Nearly 400 emergency services personnel from across southern Wisconsin honored three of their fallen comrades Thursday night at a commemorative ceremony on the roof of Monona Terrace in Madison.

The public memorial service, which was organized to commemorate the lives of Dr. Darren Bean and Med Flight pilot Steve Lipperer by their families, was attended by more than 1,450 friends, family, colleagues and members of the public. It featured outpourings of sympathy and sadness, and showed how close to home the tragedy has hit for some.

Bean, Lipperer and nurse Mark Coyne lost their lives late Saturday night when the medical helicopter they were travelling in crashed outside of La Crosse. Officials do not know what caused the helicopter to go down.

Hands held hands and tissues pressed tears from eyes among the attendees, who, whether they knew the three, felt the loss of three men who had devoted their lives to saving others.

"In this time of disbelief and pain we have to rely on one another," said Patrick Tomko, a friend of Bean and a training officer for the Madison Fire Department. Tomko, who officiated the ceremony, implored those who had been touched by his colleagues to dedicate themselves to the their work.

Bean and Lipperer certainly did. The speakers at the service painted a picture of men who lived their lives to the fullest, loved widely and well, and threw themselves into their passions and their professions.

Troy Ashburn, a childhood friend of Lipperer, spoke about when he met him while he and friends were jumping bikes over a ramp as kids. Ashburn said Lipperer, a man of few words, had him get on the back of his motorcycle and then flew at top speed at the ramp, laughing loudly as he felt Ashburn's grip tightening in terror.

"In a time of panic, there was never a sign of fear in his eyes," Ashburn said of the mechanic and pilot, who in his life swam scuba with sharks, was an accomplished acrobatic pilot, explored shipwrecks, drove Corvettes, flew a helicopter on a tuna boat in the South Pacific and explored Mayan ruins in Belize.

"You have touched so many lives, and saved more than a few ... rest in peace, friend," he said, reading a statement on behalf of the Lipperer family.

Bean's step-father Brian Schiller highlighted a similar zest for life in his son, who he described as an outdoorsman who lost his father in a plane crash at a young age and saved his grandfather's life once when he noticed the signs of heart trouble while the two were camping. Bean, he said, loved his family, both his biological family and the many friends who became part of his family, and "(cared) for all life ... with gentleness and courage."

Bean's widow Stacy Bean said that she had been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support she and her family had received since her husband's death. She thanked him for being a constant reminder to stop and smell the roses, and for always having an attitude that said, "the world is our playground, let's go play."

At the conclusion of the ceremony, two Med Flight helicopters from UW Hospital flew over the gathering as the congregation watched.

An honor guard rang a bell nine times, three for each of the dead, symbolizing the bell that announces a fire and then calls the firefighters home at fire stations worldwide.

The bell, "announces the end of our comrades' duties," a fire official who did not give her name said. "And now they are going home."