NY archbishop celebrates funeral for US soldier from Ghana

NEW YORK – Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York, celebrated the funeral Mass for an Army National Guard soldier and native of Ghana who died rescuing some of more than a dozen people trapped in the deadliest fire in the city in quarter of a century.

A funeral was held Saturday for 28-year-old Emmanuel Mensah, whom the U.S. government honoured by posthumously awarding him two military valour medals.

In December, Mensah escaped the blaze that engulfed his apartment building in the Belmont section of the Bronx. He kept going back into the inferno to bring out a family that included four children.

Mansah’s funeral was at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Belmont.

Fire officials say the blaze was started by a child playing with a gas stove.