GEORGETOWN, DE - The Ellendale Fire Company has shared details on memorial services for volunteer firefighter Thomas Wilson Berry III who tragically lost his life responding to a car crash this week.
In a social media post Thursday, the Ellendale Fire Company honored Berry and reflected on his legacy and service as a firefighter. Berry was an 8-year-member of the Ellendale Volunteer Fire Company, the post reads, having joined as a junior member at 15. The fire company says Berry came from a long line of Ellendale firefighters.
“Thomas was well known for his mischievous smile and ability to make friends wherever he was,” the Fire Company said. “This has never been more evident than by the outpouring of love from the community over the last 48 hours. His love of helping others wherever he was is easily displayed in the stories of him hearing the fire siren while in a neighboring town and stopping at their fire station to ride along with them; something he was doing as recently as last week when driving through Milford and hopping on a Carlisle fire engine.”
Berry was a consistent, reliable, and hard-working firefighter, the Ellendale Fire Company said, receiving the 2022 Ellendale Firefighter of the Year Award.
The Fire Company says Berry had recently been hired by Sussex County EMS and expressed interest in dispatch work. He had also recently started Emergency Medical Technician classes.
“While our collective hearts are broken and grieving at this moment, we know that Thomas’s legacy will live on in Ellendale forever through the foundations he helped build in younger members and the lives of residents and visitors to our community that he touched,” the Ellendale Fire Company said.
Services for Firefighter Thomas Wilson Berry III are currently scheduled for Thursday, August 22 at the Crossroad Community Church in Georgetown, DE. Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. according to the Ellendale Fire Company.
Sussex County officials say he will be memorialized with full firefighter honors. They say after the service, first responders and emergency units will escort the fallen hero in a procession to answer his ‘final alarm’, making its way from the church to the Georgetown Fire Company, followed by the County’s Public Safety Complex, and then the Ellendale Volunteer Fire Company. Interment will be in the Ellendale Cemetery, at Ponder and Cemetery roads, in Ellendale.
In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for donations be made to any local volunteer fire company, according to county officials.
Berry was killed on Tuesday, August 13th while responding to a crash on Lewes-Georgetwon Highway. He was was 23.