Police, fire and rescue crews from across Virginia came together Thursday to honor Alexandria paramedic Joshua Weissman, who died last week while responding to an emergency call.
Weissman, 33, was a seven-year veteran of the Alexandria Fire Department, and his memorial service drew not only friends and family, but hundreds of firefighters and police officers from Alexandria and Northern Virginia who stood at attention for hours in the rain to honor him.
Police closed off several major roads around the city to make way for funeral procession, and schools closed early as dozens of fire vehicles and buses carrying mourners slowly wended their way to Alexandria’s Ivy Hill Cemetery. A pipe and drum brigade played “Amazing Grace” under gray skies as a MedStar rescue helicopter flew overhead. The crowd, huddled under umbrellas in the pouring rain, recited the Mourner’s Kaddish — the Jewish prayer for the dead — as hundreds of uniformed officers saluted.
Weissman’s casket rode to the cemetery atop a firetruck draped with black bunting, and firefighters suspended a giant American flag between two trucks outside the funeral home where his service was held.
Community members also turned out. Alexandria resident Vicki Carlson and her daughter, Lisa, 18, stood on the sidewalk outside the cemetery holding American flags as mourners filed past.
“It’s touched a number of people in the community,” said Carlson, who came to the burial because she and her daughter purchased their house from a former Alexandria fire chief and attending was “what he would have done.”
Born in Ithaca, N.Y., Weissman showed an interest in fire and rescue operations from an early age, according to his family. He served as a volunteer firefighter while attending Ithaca College, and met his wife, Rebecca — also a volunteer — on the job. In Alexandria, he was known for his enthusiasm on the job, training fellow paramedics and receiving “outstanding” performance ratings, city officials said. He’d go so far as to visit with people he’d helped on duty.
Weissman had been responding to a report of a car on fire on Interstate 395 on Feb. 8 when he left the roadway and fell 20 feet into Four Mile Run Creek. He suffered a severe head injury, police said, and died in the hospital the next day. His death was the first line-of-duty death at the Alexandria Fire Department since 1965.
