JERSEY CITY, NJ - On the morning of July 25th, city firefighters assembled at Bayview Cemetery to remember their department heroes.

This memorial was established by the late Ira Rubin, a city fire dispatcher and Life Member of the Gong Club. Rubin's researched discovered that James McCarthy, engineer of Steamer Engine Co. 3, was the first member of the career fire department to die in the line-of-duty. He was operating at a fire involving the Erie Railroad Repair Shops, when a wall collapsed, killing the engineer, in 1872. Rubin also discovered Engineer McCarthy's grave site in this cemetery.

The memorial service that started by Rubin has evolved into the Jersey City Fire Department's Day of Remembrance for all firefighters that have died in the line-of-duty.

The Gong Club has continued Rubin's tradition, and members place a wreath at McCarthy's grave.

Reverend James Pagnotta, Fire Department Chaplain and a good friend of Rubin's, summed up the memorial by stating, “We make it our business not to forget.”