The Norwood Park Fire Protection District hopes a small but significant piece of American history that will be included as part of a monument commemorating the department’s 75th anniversary later this year will encapsulate the memory of New York City firefighters and police officers who died during the 9/11 attacks.
As the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaches, Norwood Park firefighters want to ensure future generations remember the 343 first responders from the New York City Fire Department who gave their lives in attempts to save others.
An 8-foot-tall granite monument will be dedicated on Aug. 27 during a ceremony for the department’s anniversary. It will encase a twisted piece of World Trade Center wreckage, according to Deputy Chief Dan Johnson.
Johnson said it took three years to secure a piece of the World Trade metal from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the departments that oversee an artifact program that distributes pieces of the metal to worthy groups to memorialize the attack.
When Johnson received a twisted piece of steel in the mail earlier this year, he was told it was of the last five pieces remaining.
“Its powerful to see this piece of metal — think of everything it represents to us as firefighters,” Johnson said. “It will be with dignity and honor that we display it on our monument. It’s our way of remembering our brothers in New York City.”
The monument being created by a small board of Norwood Park firefighters will go up in the front lawn of the firehouse on the 7400 block of West Wilson Avenue. It will cost approximately $20,000, according to Norwood Park Fire Chief Kevin Stenson, who said the statue would feature a sculpture of a firefighter holding a baby.
Underneath the figure, an inspirational fireman’s prayer will be etched into the bottom of the left side, with the steel encased on the right end.
The timing of the 75th anniversary of the Norwood Park Fire Protection District — just two weeks before the nation will honor the 9/11 anniversary — was an “eerie coincidence,” Johnson said.
“I feel it all just fell into place when the piece of metal arrived,” he said. “We’re celebrating our 75th anniversary as a joyous occasion, but at the same time it’s important to pay homage to our fellow firefighters who gave their lives.”
Norwood Park firefighters joined thousands of other fire departments who volunteered to help with the relief efforts after 9/11, but they never actually went to New York because the city was already inundated with thousands of other firefighters, mostly from the East Coast, who had already arrived at Ground Zero. Shortly before his retirement last fall, former Fire Chief John Kovalcik recalled Sept. 12, 2001, when he and a group of 50 other firefighters from the Chicago area packed up their equipment and headed to Schiller Park, where other firefighters who had also volunteered to go had assembled.
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All commercial flights had been grounded that day, but a plane was scheduled to pick up the crew and take them to New York, Kovalcik said.
“As time goes on, things fade from our memories,” Johnson said. “We want to make sure our new guys in the future who never knew that day will never forget.”
Norwood Park fire officials have raised about half of the cost of the monument, Stenson said, including $2,000 in donations from Norridge and Harwood Heights. To make a donation, call the fire department at 847-867-5428.
“This is a big milestone for us,” Stenson said. “We survived 75 years, and things are still going pretty well.”
The public will be invited to the Aug. 27 unveiling ceremony for the monument.
Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.