Funeral Services Held For Hero Soldier Killed In Bronx Fire

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A funeral was held Saturday for a hero soldier who died rescuing people from a massive fire in the Bronx.

28-year-old Emmanuel Mensah was among 13 people killed in the December blaze, when a five-story apartment building in the Belmont section went up in flames.

Witnesses say Mensah had made it out safely but kept going back to rescue people.

He was staying with a family on the first floor of the building when the fire broke out. His uncle said Mensah saved a family of six, including four young children, before firefighters arrived.

"According to those who saw him, he came out about three times helping people out and then the fourth time he went back to help, he didn't come back," Twun Bredu said in December.

Among them mourners in attendance Saturday was Mensah's elderly neighbor, who spoke glowingly of him.

"Every time he'd come home from some place he'd knock on my door and say, 'are you okay?' and I'd go, 'yes, I'm okay," Margot Perkins told 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria.

On Friday, the Army Private 1st Class was posthumously awarded two valor medals at a ceremony at Fordham University.

Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan presided over the services at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Belmont, which were delayed so Mensah's family could attend from his native Ghana.