by JESS WISLOSKI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
As dusk hit the city yesterday, two sets of heroes met for the first time in a Bronx firehouse.
Sharing embraces and compliments, five wounded veterans of the war in Iraq shook hands with their stateside counterparts, the front-line rescuers after the deadliest terror attack on American soil.
"We're helping them, they helped us," said Gene Lynch, a firefighter from Engine 38/Ladder 51 in Belmont, which lost two members in the World Trade Center terror attacks.
Lynch helped raise enough money from firefighters in the Bronx and Manhattan to pay for the airfare, hotel, food, transportation and entertainment for the five soldiers and their family members.
"The world came to our aid after 9/11. It's a little payback," Lynch said.
The soldiers are part of the Wounded Warriors program, which offers brief vacations from the ongoing rehabilitation in outpatient programs at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington.
Natasha McKinnon, 24, who was hit by a roadside bomb after four months in Iraq, called it a "privilege and honor" to be invited to an FDNY firehouse.
"It's great to see how they support the troops," she added.
"We feel very connected to them, especially this week," said Firefighter Tom Cosgrove, referring to the U.S. military death toll's rise to 2,975 on Monday.
Since their arrival Wednesday, firefighters have taken 12 family members and soldiers from across the country on a whirlwind tour of the city.
Before leaving Tuesday, they'll take in Yankee Stadium, the Botanical Garden, the Statue of Liberty, a Jets game, a Circle Line cruise and New Year's Eve at Times Square.
"It's unbelievable that we just get to come and see the sights," said Sgt. Tom Davis, 29, of Michigan. He was struck by a roadside bomb while on Humvee patrol in Ramadi.
"Meeting all of the firefighters and seeing Ground Zero today has been great," he said.
But for the firefighters, the treat was all theirs.
"People call us heroes," said Mike Paterno, a 27-year-old firefighter with Ladder 38, "but they're the real heroes for our country."
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