FDNY Firefighter Aaron Clark Honored With Memorial Plaque

The sharp keening of the FDNY Emerald Society Pipes & Drums warming up could be heard from blocks away on the slightly crisp, sunny Hell’s Kitchen morning of Wednesday Sept. 23, 2026. Though the sound of the pipes is often somber, it can be rousing too— even celebratory—a mix of emotions appropriate to the occasion of the dozens of kilt-clad men honoring the life and memory of one of their own, Rescue Company 1 firefighter, Emerald Society piper, and former United State Marine, Aaron M. Clark.

Present for the ceremony, which was held outside the Rescue 1 stationhouse at 530 W. 43rd St. between 10th and 11th Avenues, were hundreds of firefighters, active and retired, dozens of Emerald Society musicians, and Clark’s widow, Sarah. An 18-year FDNY veteran, Clark’s previous assignments included Ladder 80 on Staten Island and Ladder 4 in Times Square. Among those who spoke at the event FDNY Chaplain, Monsignor Marc Filacchione, FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito; Manhattan Borough Commander John Corcoran and President of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, Bobby Eustice.

Seated next to Clark’s widow, Sarah was 9/11 legacy Firefighter Rebecca Asaro, a close friend, who worked with Aaron at Ladder 4/Engine 54.

“A plaque like this is more than a piece of metal on a wall,” said Commander Corcoran, who himself had worked with Clark when Corcoran was assigned to Midtown. “It’s a permanent reminder of a firefighter who became part of the history, tradition and brotherhood of the FDNY. “Rescue 1 is known throughout the Department for its courage, skill and willingness to go where others cannot.”

“For those who served alongside Aaron, this plaque will bring back memories, not just the fires and emergencies, but of the person behind the uniform. The conversations in quarters, the time spent training, the moments of humor and the trust that develops between firefighters who know that when the alarm sounds, they have to depend on each other. This is what FDNY brotherhood is all about. Today it’s about Aaron’s family.”

Aaron Clark was born on October 21, 1973 Besides, Sarah, that family included Aaron’s brother, Evan and sister Ramie, both of Santa Cruz; California; and his mother, Rikki, and grandmother, Norma, both of Pacific Grove, California. Aaron was preceded in death by his father, Arthur Clark.

The Clark plaque complements other Rescue 1 station memorials. These include a plaque for the 11 men killed on 9/11, one of whom, Captain Terrence Hatton, who is additionally honored with a street co-naming outside the stationhouse, and large illustration of an Aaron Clark, Rescue 1 memorial patch composed of a bald eagle, the Marine Corps insignia, a three-leaf shamrock and Clark’s FDNY badge number 1587 with a red line through it.

He Refused to Embrace Cynicism, Ever

Exactly one year earlier, on Tuesday Sept. 23, 2025, Clark, died of pancreatic cancer at his home on Staten Island. His passing was announced on various FDNY-related platforms, including FDNY Insider, the official, city-run site that catalogs the department’s public announcements: promotions, procedural changes, deaths.

Department Order 109, issued on Sept. 25, 2025, didn’t say much, beginning “With regret, the Department announces the death of Firefighter Aaron M. Clark, Rescue 1, appointed January 21, 2008...” But this wasn’t the place for eulogies, just an occasion to express, “The heartfelt sympathy of the entire Department is extended to the family, relatives, and friends of the deceased in the midst of the great loss that they and the Department have sustained,” and note Clark’s funeral arrangements: viewing hours at Marine Park Funeral Home in Brooklyn on Sunday Sept. 28, with his funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral the next morning at 10 a.m.

There’s a funny story about that viewing location and it’s supposed to be. “One of his last wishes,” wrote a close family friend, Spyro Panopolous, “was that his memorial services be held in other boroughs so his friends wouldn’t have to pay the Verrazano Bridge toll.”

“His smile and his laugh were infectious and therapeutic,” Panopolous added. “He was a loving son, brother, husband (his wife is a nurse), and doting dog daddy to a beautiful English Bulldog. He refused to embrace cynicism, ever. His last meal was White Castle.”

A 27-minute long tribute video to Clark with hundreds of photos showing the usually smiling face, from childhood on, behind these tributes is viewable on the Marine Park Funeral Home website.

Another video documenting of the outdoor portions of Clark’s St. Patrick’s funeral is also online. It shows the Emerald Society snare drums covered in black and purple shroud, with similar bunting attached to the rear of Rescue Truck 1, now with Aaron M. Clark painted upon it. His coffin draped in American flag, it was removed from the truck by nine firefighters and carried past two saluting Marines, one a sergeant, the other a corporal, into the cathedral.

After the service, a similar ceremony was done in reverse. With the Emerald Society pipers playing the Marine hymn, the American flag from Clark’s coffin was removed, meticulously folded and, after the Marine sergeant lowered himself to one knee, presented to Clark’s widow, Stacy. After being re-covered by the FDNY flag, Clark’s coffin was hoisted and strapped atop the Rescue 1 truck to be borne away.

Aaron Clark in Glimpes

Because he wasn’t famous—and his passing came from disease, not a breaking news event—Clark’s death didn’t get any press, though he had been the subject of passing media attention a few times.

The first occasion occurred in May 2011. On May 2, President Barack Obama announced that 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden had been killed by U.S. Navy SEALS in Pakistan. That evening, there’s Clark, whose Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9 station house was at Eighth Avenue and West 49th Street, atop a fire truck waving to a crowd of Times Square celebrants.

The second occasion occurred in June 2016. Four years prior, an unknown military veteran had anonymously left his Purple Heart medal on the stationhouse’s 9/11 memorial. Fifteen of its men were killed at Ground Zero that morning, an entire shift, and the most deaths of any single FDNY unit. That veteran then walked away, not knowing what happened to the medal; did the firefighters find it or was it taken by passerby? As it happened, the firefighters did find it and deeply moved, they encased the medal—whoever it had belonged to— and added it to their 9/11 Memorial.

In early 2016, firefighter Jonathan Bush, a Navy veteran, came across a Tumblr post by an unidentified man writing about giving up his Purple Heart. Enter ex-Marine Aaron Clark, who being active in the veteran support community, especially PTSD, reached out to the Purple Hearts Reunited organization. The mystery was quicky solved.

In 2007, Army soldier Charles Wayne “C.W.” O’Brien was wounded when his vehicle was hit by an IED in Ninevah Province, Iraq. Deeply affected by 9/11, in 2012, O’Brien and his new bride Megin, took their honeymoon to New York, where he made his anonymous tribute. Four years later, O’Brien were flown from Kansas to Manhattan to meet the firefighters— with, as the Daily News reported, Aaron Clark, among his tour guides.

On November 26, 2023, Clark was featured in Ford-sponsored Military Moment—all 30-odd seconds of it— during a New York Giants home game. Wearing a Disabled American Veterans sweatshirt and smiling despite his left arm being in a sling, Clark waves as the announcer introduces him as a former Marine corporal who served four years, some of that time in Okinawa, Japan, before joining the FDNY. Noting his advocacy work for veterans and the department, the moment ends “Thank you Aaron, for your commitment to our great country, and great city!”

Clark also served in Iraq, and, somehow, in the National Archives, there is a photo of “Private First Class (PFC) Aaron Clark, Motor Transportation Operator, 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd Force Services Support Group” taken at Camp Coyote on February 16, 2003, during operation Enduring Freedom.

Clark’s service experience connected with his FDNY career with hishis volunteer work with the Spartan Sword, an organization devoted to veteran suicide prevention. The Spartan Sword is both an oath and an object, the latter forged from 9/11 steel and carried to veterans’ events as a symbol of strength and solidarity.

When he died, there were also words from those who knew him when the uniform he wore were those of Scotts Valley Bees Little League, and Santa Cruz High football.

“Met him freshman year at Santa Cruz High he was a classic San Lorenzo Valley kid,” recalled an old friend. “funny & crazy at the same time super fun to be around on our football team he named our defense The Manson Family” “

Wrote Norma Bell, of Monterey, California, on Facebook: “Aaron was my first Grandson and I adored him. We spent a lot of time together and he loved to spend time with his grandpa Ted Bell. He would take rides with him and watch fire prevention they did on the wharf. He made my life better and I can’t imagine my life without him.”

While there are a good number of Marine and other veterans in the FDNY, Clark might have been the only Manhattan firefighter and Emerald Society piper to have grown up in Santa Cruz, where the redwood trees are taller than the buildings.