‘PAY IT FORWARD’

FDNY widow: Honor my husband by being kind

The widow of an FDNY firefighter and Marine killed in Afghanistan described her husband as a modest man who would have felt uncomfortable with the word “hero” — even though he deserved it.

“My husband was a humble man and would have downplayed all the ‘Hero’ talk, but to us, that is what he was,” Shannon Slutman said Thursday in a Facebook post put up by the FDNY. “[He] was passionate about his family as well as being a firefighter and a Marine.”

Christopher Slutman, 43, and three other Americans were killed Monday during a roadside bombing near the main American base north of Kabul, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The staff sergeant with the U.S. Marine reserves leaves behind his wife and three daughters.

Shannon Slutman remembered her husband not as the firefighter or soldier, but as the die-hard Notre Dame and Philadelphia Eagles fan who loved to run and when he wasn’t moving, which was constantly, an insatiable bookworm.

“Above all, Chris was a man of integrity and a gentleman in all he did,” Shannon said. “In honor of Chris, please pay it forward and do something kind for another.”

Firefighter Slutman was assigned to Ladder Company 27 — the Cross Bronx Express — when he was deployed to the Middle East.

On Thursday, his fellow firefighters had the somber task of traveling to Delaware to salute Slutman’s casket as it was flown into Dover Air Force Base.

Members of the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation announced Thursday that they will pay off Slutman’s mortgage.

Stephen Siller, 34, was off duty when he strapped on 60 pounds of gear and raced 2 miles through the Battery Tunnel from Brooklyn to Manhattan to catch up with his squad. Siller and 10 other members of Squad 1 did not survive the terror attack.

A few years ago, Slutman and Shannon participated in the annual Tunnel to Towers run, which is held in Siller’s honor.

Funeral arrangements for Slutman were still being worked out Friday. Donations in the firefighter’s honor can be made online to the “FF Christopher Slutman’s Children’s Education Fund.”

Marine Corps team Thursday transports remains of Staff Sgt. Christopher A. Slutman at Dover Air Force Base, Del. Slutman was a member of FDNY Ladder 27 and Engine 46 in the Bronx, where fellow firefighters mourned (bottom l.) and saluted during a bunting ceremony (r.). In a Facebook post Thursday, the fallen Marine’s widow, Shannon Slutman (below r.) remembered him as “a man of integrity and a gentleman in all he did.”