Submitted by a Fellow Firefighter
Kirk M. Wicker
Sioux City Fire Department – Iowa
Classification: Career
Rank: Probationary Firefighter
Date of Death: June 27‚ 1982
Age: 25
Kirk was in his 10th month of service as a probationary firefighter. He was a musician and my friend. He gave his life in the line of duty while responding to an arson fire at a poultry processing plant. While riding with him to his last alarm on the tailboard of Engine 36‚ he kept hold of me and kept me from falling off as I secured my turnout gear.
He would have been an excellent firefighter had he lived. We were hired the same day. I knew him only 10 months‚ but have thought of him every day since.
He was my brother from another mother, my best friend. We were not blood, but it was still thicker than water. We hunted, fished, drank, fought, and ate together. When Jack Rooney and Wilbur Lemoyne killed he and Mike Johnson my father said ‘Parents aren’t supposed to bury their children.’ and he wasn’t his child but yet he was an adopted, albeit figuratively still a member of OUR family. I don’t think about him daily…but on most days, he will always live in my heart and in my mind. Sleep well my friend. I haven’t been to visit nearly often enough. We know the friendship that will live on. An old Irish blessing, “May the road rise up to meet ‘ya, may the wind always be at your back, may the sun shine on your pastures, and a gentile rain fall on your crops, and may your soul live in the loving hands of the Lord for eternity, Amen. I love and miss you brother. Until we meet again. Billy.
– William Merle Junkman