Befitting Farewell

Posted

Army Pfc. Emmanuel Mensah, 26, a New York Army National Guard soldier, died in a Dec. 28 Bronx apartment house fire that claimed 12 other lives. He is credited with saving four lives and returning to the building at 2363 Prospect Ave. in an attempt to save additional lives before succumbing. The day before the Funeral Mass, Mensah was posthumously conferred the Soldier’s Medal, the Army’s highest award for heroism that occurs outside of combat, and the New York State Medal for Valor, the state’s highest military award, presented for acts of heroism on and off the battlefield. Mensah, a native of Ghana who became a naturalized citizen of the United States, belonged to St. Martin of Tours parish, the Bronx, and was also part of the Ghanaian Catholic community at St. Luke’s.