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Steven H. Pollard was supposed to receive the official order confirming his promotion to a full-fledged New York City firefighter this week.

After a year and a half as a probationary firefighter, the orange patch of a novice would have been replaced on his helmet with a crimson patch bearing his ladder company. A small change, perhaps, but a signifier that Mr. Pollard fully belonged to the ranks of New York’s Bravest.

Instead Mr. Pollard, who died Sunday at age 30 after falling 50 feet from a Brooklyn overpass, was buried Friday afternoon. His helmet, with the patch he never got to wear, was prominently displayed at his funeral. It was a potent symbol of a young firefighter at the start of a promising career when his life was cut tragically short.