By Paul Thompson

Northeast News

October 14, 2016

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – An emotional week for the friends and families of fallen KCFD firefighters John Mesh and Larry Leggio concluded on Friday, October 14, with the dedication of a memorial monument honoring the two heroes.

Mesh and Leggio were killed on October 12, 2015 while fighting a fire on Independence Avenue, and Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary of that tragic night. To commemorate the anniversary, hundreds of well-wishers joined the family for an emotional vigil at the scene of the deadly fire.

Friday’s unveiling of the 800-pound black granite memorial honoring Mesh and Leggio was held at the Kansas City Museum, in conjunction with the opening of the museum’s new exhibit, entitled In the Line of Duty: A history of the Kansas City Missouri Fire Department. Once the museum’s Executive Director Anna Marie Tutera realized that Northeast News publisher Michael Bushnell was working on his own plans to create a memorial for Leggio and Mesh, she said it was a natural decision to introduce both the exhibit and the memorial to the community simultaneously.

“We’re really honored that we have this great opportunity to be the chosen location for the unveiling and dedication of a very special memorial,” said Tutera. “I’ll let Mike tell you all about it.”

Before the unveiling, an emotional Bushnell described the planning process that led to the Friday night event. While the memorial was initially planned as three tablets, the project continued to grow until it became the monument that it is today.

“The monument itself measures 42 inches square. It’s four inches thick, and it weighs 805 pounds. It will be here for the immediate future as part of this exhibit,” said Bushnell. “After it leaves here, it will be installed in the west wall of Snyder’s Supermarket. It will be a permanent and lasting memorial to John and Larry for making the ultimate sacrifice for their community here in the Historic Northeast.”

Bushnell added that the memorial was a team effort, and thanked those who were involved. That included the James family and Snyder’s Supermarket for their generous support of the project; Brad Pence at Pence Enterprises for his input and generosity; Gary Reese at Local 42 for helping with logistics and financing; Pete Mesh at the North End for his support; Andrew Romano at Cumpy’s T-Shirt Shop for providing the KCFD-themed blanket to cover the memorial; the Kansas City Museum and the Parks and Recreation department for hosting the dedication ceremony; Fire Chief Paul Berardi and his staff, and all of the firefighters in Kansas City for putting it on the line for the community every single day. Lastly, Bushnell thanked the Mesh and Leggio families for their tremendous perseverance.

Reached after the dedication, Larry’s wife Missy Leggio acknowledged that the evening was the culmination of a flurry of emotions. Still, she said that she was exceedingly grateful for the support from the community.

“If I’m not glowing on the outside, I feel like I’m glowing on the inside,” said Leggio.

On the topic of the memorial itself, Leggio was quick to point out her favorite aspect.

“Larry’s smile; his infectious smile. That’s the smile I fell in love with. He flashed it at me once, and it was over,” said Leggio. “He wouldn’t want any of this attention on him. He didn’t even like being on the news when there was a fire and having his name on the back of his coat. He didn’t want people to know that he was at a fire and doing anything. He never wanted to be called a hero, and he never wanted to have this big of a deal made about him. But too bad; he can get me later on.”

John’s brother Jim Mesh and Larry’s brother Joe Mike Leggio also spoke to the Northeast News about the dedication ceremony.

“It means a lot to my family, and I’m sure to Larry’s family as well. Like Michael Bushnell said, if you didn’t grow up in the Northeast, you wouldn’t understand,” said Mesh of the community support. “There’s a connection with people who were raised here that’s unexplainable. I’ve never seen it anywhere else. It’s not surprising that people from Northeast would get this together.”

Leggio noted the irony of holding the dedication at the Kansas City Museum, where he and Larry used to hang out as children. Their childhood home was only a half-mile away, and Joe Mike recalled when the museum’s Carriage House, where the event was held, used to be filled with stuffed, exotic animals. He added that he hoped the one-year anniversary would be a time when the real healing could truly begin.

“I hope that this marks a time where we can start to move forward. A month ago, it seemed harder than it was the day after it happened,” said Leggio. “The whole year has been terrible. Missy mentioned it; every ‘first’ that we’ve gone through has been incredibly tough. I hope that now that we’ve hit a year, we’re going to move forward and we get to really start healing.”