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Colonie man recalls son’s heroic actions at Boston Marathon finish line 5 years ago


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COLONIE, NY (WRGB) A Boston firefighter from Colonie spent the weekend with the family of a girl he helped rescue during the Boston Marathon bombings.

Sunday marked five years since the attack at the finish line of the marathon.

An iconic photo of Jimmy Plourde went viral after the bombing in 2013.

Monday we sat down with Jimmy's father Peter Plourde to talk about the attack's lasting impacts.

“What he saw are things you don't see in this country, you don’t see a bombing that tears people apart, and it was a horrible scene he had to see,” Peter Plourde said.

April 15th, 2013 Peter Plourde's son Jimmy put his fear aside and ran toward the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

A snapshot of the Boston firefighter was seen around the world. The victim in his arms a young woman named, Victoria McGrath.

“When the bomb went off it took out part of her leg and it took out an artery. He got her in a rig and said, Get her going!

Get her moving! Let's get her out of here!” Plourde said.

Victoria survived the attack and Jimmy and Victoria became like family. But tragically, Victoria was killed in a car crash not three years after the attack, during a family vacation in Dubai. She was 23.

“It just tore us a part because we grew to know her, she was another child in our family,” Plourde said.

Peter says his son, a Siena College graduate, spent the weekend with Victoria's family at one of the races ahead of this year's marathon.

“We watched them race and we raised money for the different foundations we were supporting, and he ran, it was his first 5-K,” Plourde said.

Now Jimmy dedicates a lot of his time to causes in support of the victims. Where Angel's Play Foundation raises money to build playgrounds in the bombing victim's names and the Victoria McGrath Foundation helps needy children around the world, in Victoria's honor.

“I’m just proud of him and I’ll never forget the people he works with and the people who need our help,” Plourde said.

Right now the Where Angel's Play Foundation is working to build a playground in honor of Krystle Campbell, one of the victims killed at the marathon, whose father we're told is currently battling brain cancer.

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