Injured fireman fights to return to job

ST. LOUIS -- Ernest Strong was 44 when he passed the test to become a firefighter in the city of St. Louis. He remembers being the oldest guy in the class.

His classmates dubbed him "Murtaugh," for the aging detective played by Danny Glover in the "Lethal Weapon" movies.

It didn't bother him. It was 1999, and he was in great shape. He didn't flinch when it came time to see if he had the stamina to keep up with younger classmates. He heaved a sledgehammer, threw hoses out of a window and navigated a 10-story-tall tower while wearing a 40-pound tank. He passed.

He'd been a corrections officer in the city's workhouse for five years. He'd served in Iraq for six months during the Persian Gulf War, as a combat engineer whose duties included setting up land mines.

Hard work didn't scare him. Not much did -- until Feb. 11. That's the day, police say, that Strong was shot when he interrupted a burglary at his home. His recovery has been long, painful and too slow for Strong.

For now, he needs a walker to navigate his home, and even a handshake requires too much strength. But he wants to return to the job he loved, even though he knows it isn't going to be easy.

So now, the man who once dragged a 200-pound mannequin a distance of 10 feet to show that he was as tough as men half his age uses a walker to get around his house.

He returned home on April 24 after spending about a month in the hospital and several more weeks in a rehabilitation center.

Strong admits that his condition is frustrating. But he believes God has carried him this far and will keep carrying him. Cassandra Strong says the same. But neither of them focus on that. Instead, they talk about the days ahead of them.

"I'm not bitter," Ernest Strong said. "I've already turned the page, because what can the past do for me?"

Capt. Bob Keuss, a Fire Department spokesman, said everyone at the department wants to see Strong heal and return. "There's nothing that we'd love more than to have Ernest Strong back on the job."

Strong wants to return to the way he was before he was shot, but he knows he has a long way to go.

"I was taken out in February," he said. "I'd like to return next February."