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by MICHELE McPHEE
Seven-year-old Jacob O'Shea was proud of two things yesterday: He lost his two front teeth and his mom let him carry his dad's FDNY Medal of Valor.
The medal honors his father, James O'Shea, 41, a Queens firefighter assigned to Ladder 127 who died of a heart attack Sept. 27, 2003, after battling an arson blaze in Queens.
O'Shea was the first firefighter to die in the line of duty since the World Trade Center attacks.
"There are a lot of people here for my daddy," the little boy said, before pointing at the gap in the smile he inherited from his firefighter father.
As firefighters filed past him to honor his dad, Jacob rubbed his hand along the medal's purple ribbon and started to cry. "I'm sad, Mommy," he said, clinging to O'Shea's widow, Yetta, who held the couple's youngest son, Matthew, in her arms. "I want my dad."
As Yetta O'Shea comforted her children, the parents of another fallen firefighter, Thomas Brick, 30, saluted the hundreds of members of New York's Bravest who marched past them in a solemn tribute to the two fallen men.
Brick, who had been a firefighter for just two years, had dreamed of joining the FDNY since he was Jacob O'Shea's age.
Despite her grief, Brick's mother, Margaret, let a small smile cross her face as the bagpipers played "Yankee Doodle Dandy," and "Grand Old Flag," which were among her son's favorites.
"He loved to sing those songs with the guys in the firehouse. He fit right in in the house, they were always singing," Margaret Brick said, putting her hand on her husband's arm as he wiped tears from his eyes. "He loved being with these guys," she said, looking out at the mile-long swath of blue uniforms. "He's here today. I can feel him."
The Bricks have more than memories to keep their son's legacy alive. Last week, one of Brick's fellow firefighters from Ladder 36 had a 13-pound baby boy - the biggest ever born on Long Island - and named him Thomas. "As soon as he can listen, as soon as he can hear, I'll tell him about the guy who gave him his name," said the baby's father, Joseph Buono.
Just then, Brick's own children, Madeline, 5, and Aden, 4, joined hands as their mother, Meredith, looked on. Their fingers clasped together, the Brick children began to spin around and around and giggled, as if to prove that life and laughter can defeat the agony of loss.
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