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Bagpipe Brothers: The FDNY Band's True Story of Tragedy, Mourning, and Recovery
After the 9/11 World Trade Center terrorist attacks, New York City's Emerald Society Bagpipe Band of firefighter-musicians took out their instruments and prepared to bury their dead--343 brothers in duty and in blood. Many firefighters alternated between playing their instruments at funerals and digging for the missing in the rubble of Ground Zero. The Irish American tradition of funeral bagpiping became the sound of mourning for an entire nation.
Bagpipe Brothers tells the unforgettable story of four firefighters in the band, who struggled to bring peace to their families and themselves while searching for the dead, coping with the endless round of funerals, and rethinking the meaning of faith. Their experiences illustrate the grief and recovery of the nation in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.
Kerry Sheridan has written the first book to cover the ordeal of the massive number of funerals, the importance of recovering bodies in Irish American culture, and the bagpiping ritual, both traditional and modern.
Bagpipe Brothers tells the unforgettable story of four firefighters in the band, who struggled to bring peace to their families and themselves while searching for the dead, coping with the endless round of funerals, and rethinking the meaning of faith. Their experiences illustrate the grief and recovery of the nation in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.
Kerry Sheridan has written the first book to cover the ordeal of the massive number of funerals, the importance of recovering bodies in Irish American culture, and the bagpiping ritual, both traditional and modern.
264 pages, Paperback
First published May 26, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 17, 2025
I met the author via a friend, otherwise I might have missed out on this wonderful, often heart-wrenching book. In 2001, I worked in Soho, New York City, frequently using the PATH train beneath the World Trade Center to commute to work from my home in Hoboken, NJ. Needless to say, I was deeply rattled, and affected forever, by the horrific events of September 11.
The last time I took a "deep dive" into 9/11, it was through Spike Lee's terrific documentary series NYC Epicenters in 2021. But I was immediately intrigued by this book, with a focus I hadn't considered before: the New York Fire Department's bagpipe band. Not only were these musicians rocked to the core by the loss of friends, colleagues, relatives, and band members on 9/11, but per tradition, the band played at memorial and funeral services for their hundreds of fallen brothers, keeping the mourning right in front of them for month after month after month.
Author Sheridan profiles a select handful of firefighters in the band, each with a different personal connection to the tragedy. The book is laid out in a clear, logical narrative, first explaining the bagpipe itself and its history, and how it became linked to the NYFD. We meet the modern (as of 2001) band and see their strong camaraderie. One thing that I knew but was truly reinforced: You don't have to be Irish to be an NYC firefighter but… well, actually, you kind of do. We also meet the individual firefighters who will carry us through.
Sheridan’s tremendous journalistic skills brought me right back to the unfolding shock of that awful day, followed by the painstaking, physically, emotionally, and medically taxing task of recovery of bodies, and the services for fallen firefighters that put the bagpipe band back in action, at a ridiculously more frequent rate than ever before.
When late in the book, there's a reference to “my” firehouse – Engine 24, Ladder 5 on Sixth Avenue in Soho, which I walked past twice a day on my most common commute for 15 years – it was a gut punch, again bringing it all back home for me. (Not to mention a scene in nearby Chumley’s where I was a semi-regular, often ordering a pint of Captain Drennan’s, named after a firefighter who perished in 1994.)
But you don't have to be someone who lived or worked in and around downtown NYC in September 2001. This book can be treasured by anyone interested in Irish tradition, in the bravery and heroism of first responders, or in a key period in U.S. history beautifully rendered by an expert journalist.
Note: This book deserves to be back in print. In the meantime, individual copies are available online or through your local library.
The last time I took a "deep dive" into 9/11, it was through Spike Lee's terrific documentary series NYC Epicenters in 2021. But I was immediately intrigued by this book, with a focus I hadn't considered before: the New York Fire Department's bagpipe band. Not only were these musicians rocked to the core by the loss of friends, colleagues, relatives, and band members on 9/11, but per tradition, the band played at memorial and funeral services for their hundreds of fallen brothers, keeping the mourning right in front of them for month after month after month.
Author Sheridan profiles a select handful of firefighters in the band, each with a different personal connection to the tragedy. The book is laid out in a clear, logical narrative, first explaining the bagpipe itself and its history, and how it became linked to the NYFD. We meet the modern (as of 2001) band and see their strong camaraderie. One thing that I knew but was truly reinforced: You don't have to be Irish to be an NYC firefighter but… well, actually, you kind of do. We also meet the individual firefighters who will carry us through.
Sheridan’s tremendous journalistic skills brought me right back to the unfolding shock of that awful day, followed by the painstaking, physically, emotionally, and medically taxing task of recovery of bodies, and the services for fallen firefighters that put the bagpipe band back in action, at a ridiculously more frequent rate than ever before.
When late in the book, there's a reference to “my” firehouse – Engine 24, Ladder 5 on Sixth Avenue in Soho, which I walked past twice a day on my most common commute for 15 years – it was a gut punch, again bringing it all back home for me. (Not to mention a scene in nearby Chumley’s where I was a semi-regular, often ordering a pint of Captain Drennan’s, named after a firefighter who perished in 1994.)
But you don't have to be someone who lived or worked in and around downtown NYC in September 2001. This book can be treasured by anyone interested in Irish tradition, in the bravery and heroism of first responders, or in a key period in U.S. history beautifully rendered by an expert journalist.
Note: This book deserves to be back in print. In the meantime, individual copies are available online or through your local library.
May 15, 2026
A poignant read. As a member of an Emerald Society pipe band myself (Colorado branch) I know how it can be to prepare and play for a big LODD funeral, it can be tiring, it can be emotional, especially if you knew the person, but to play THAT many… I can’t fathom. I understand the pipe band brotherhood very well. I am not a first responder, but come from a family of first responders, so while I may not understand the pain, struggles, etc fully, I do a little bit, from a different view.
I think the author really captured who we are as an Emerald Society, regardless of which state we’re from. I think she captured the brotherhood we as a band have with one another. I appreciate the light she shed on the emotional and physical side these firefighters dealt with (and still deal with as their loss is still there and many still die from cancers etc related to 9/11). It’s important to have some understanding of the sacrifice these men and women made.
This book was well worth the read.
I think the author really captured who we are as an Emerald Society, regardless of which state we’re from. I think she captured the brotherhood we as a band have with one another. I appreciate the light she shed on the emotional and physical side these firefighters dealt with (and still deal with as their loss is still there and many still die from cancers etc related to 9/11). It’s important to have some understanding of the sacrifice these men and women made.
This book was well worth the read.
August 13, 2023
Unbelievable. It mostly details how the firefighters dealt with the loss of their "brothers" in 9/11. How they recovered and cataloged thousands of bodies and how the men were there digging every single day. How they made it through the hundreds of funerals and memorials (445). Everything is told from the fire fighters point of view. The NYFD has a pipers band, complete with kilts. A large group of men, mostly Irish, played the bagpipes at every single event for their brothers that went on for almost a year, plus the parades. Their exhaustion, mental health, persistence and hope in months of digging at the site. Describes so many things people may not have thought about 9/11. A must read.
May 9, 2026
a poignant tale of heroism
An honest and heartbreaking account of 9/11 and its aftermath. Intimately reported, the story shows us the human side of the heroes we’ve heard so much about.
An honest and heartbreaking account of 9/11 and its aftermath. Intimately reported, the story shows us the human side of the heroes we’ve heard so much about.
February 10, 2008
NYU student gets a free pass into the lives of the FDNY unit that visited (played at) so many funerals after 9/11. Their duty and determination to honor those fallen, while they suffer through their own grief is awe-inspiring.
September 25, 2012
A great book about the amazing yet often overlooked stories of those who serve others. A gritty and very realistic look into the lives of FDNY and their families surrounding 9/11. To all those who serve us every single day, Thank you.
October 16, 2012
A well written insight into the minds and lives of a great brotherhood.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews