17 Years After Death In Iraq, Montco Firefighter Remembered

WHITPAIN TOWNSHIP, PA — It has now been close to two decades since a local firefighter in this Montgomery County community passed away while serving a tour of duty overseas.

Tuesday marked the 17th anniversary of the death of John Kulick, a 34-year-old former Harleysville resident who served as a career firefighter with the Whitpain Township Fire Department for seven years.

Kulick, who had enlisted in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in August 2003, was deployed to Iraq in July 2004. He lost his life in that country on Aug. 9, 2005.

Kulick was deployed for an 18-month tour of duty at the time of his death while fighting in the Iraq War, and he was supposed to come home in late 2005, according to a past article in the Ambler Gazette.

Kulick was remembered as a well-respected firefighter and all-around dedicated community servant.

"He touched not only co-workers on the career side, but volunteers. We lost the best firefighter we had," Whitpain Township Fire Marshal David Camarda told the Ambler Gazette back in 2005.

Camarda still serves as the fire marshal in Whitpain.

Before working in Whitpain, Kulick had served for a time as a volunteer firefighter in Hatboro.

He had also worked as a federal civilian firefighter at the now-shuttered Willow Grove Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Horsham Township.

The Enterprise Fire Company of Hatboro on Tuesday, the anniversary date of Kulick's death, posted photos of the fallen firefighter on Facebook.

The department said that Kulick will always be missed by its members.

"John, while you may be gone, you are NEVER, EVER forgotten," the Facebook post reads. "You had a contagious smile and a lasting impression on anyone you met. Rest easy friend."

At the time of his death, Kulick was survived by a wife and then-9-year-old daughter, Amanda Mae Kulick.