Our Mission

The Honor Legion of the Fire Department of the City of New York roots can be traced back to Napoleon Bonaparte.  Napoleon established the Le'gion d'honneur or Ordre national de la Le'gion d'honneur  (French: "National Order of the Legion of Honour") on May 19,1802.  Napoleon created the legion to reward and commend civilians and soldiers for their merit.  To be inducted into the Ordre national de la Le'gion d'honneur is considered to be the highest honor one can achieve in France.

The Honor Legion of the FDNY had a more humble beginning, it began as an idea in the quarters of Engine 96 and Ladder 54 in the Bronx.  Fr. Joseph Rodriguez of Ladder 54 was the founding president of the Honor Legion.  He established the Honor Legion as an official fraternal organization of the FDNY in 1983.

The purpose of the Honor Legion is to advance and promote the best interests of the FDNY, encourage and provide social gatherings, foster a fraternal spirit, unite in a common bond of brotherhood.  Our organization provides encouragement and assistance for all distressed worthy Firefighters deemed eligible to recieve benefits from the organization.

Our main purpose is our devotion and dedication to the "Bravest of the Bravest", the families of members who have made the Supreme Sacrifice protecting lives and property of the citizens of the City of New York.

"I have no ambition in this world but one, and that is to be a fireman. The position may, in the eyes of some, appear to be a lowly one; but we who know the work which the fireman has to do believe that his is a noble calling. Our proudest moment is to save lives. Under the impulse of such thoughts, the nobility of the occupation thrills us and stimulates us to deeds of daring, even of supreme sacrifice.”

 “Firemen are going to get killed. When they join the department they face that fact. When a man becomes a fireman his greatest act of bravery has been accomplished. What he does after that is all in the line of work. They were not thinking of getting killed when they went where death lurked. They went there to put the fire out, and got killed. Firefighters do not regard themselves as heroes because they do what the business requires.”

Edward F. Croker Chief of Department 1899 - 1911