The Associated Press
TIVERTON, R.I. — Thousands attended the funeral of a Tiverton fighter who died searching a pond for a missing boater.
Firefighters from California to England mourned 52-year-old Gerald Leduc at a procession and funeral Mass held Friday.
Leduc was off-duty Sunday evening when he put on his scuba gear to search for a boater missing in Stafford Pond. Shortly afterward, rescue crews spotted Leduc motionless in the water.
The boater was found dead in the pond two days later.
Leduc’s casket was carried through town on an antique fire truck accompanied by bagpipers and drummers. Authorities set up tents in the parking lot of St. Theresa’s Church to handle overflow crowds.
The Rev. Peter Andrews said that Leduc “called us to be better than we already are.”
Leduc will be buried in Fall River, Mass.