343 to walk in remembrance

DWIGHT, Ill. — There were 343 firefighters killed in the terrorist actions in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.

To honor their memory, the Dwight Fire Department plans on having the same number of firefighters walking in a silent march during the Dwight Harvest Days Parade on Sept. 18, 2011.

There will be no sirens or noise or cheering during this section of the parade. Only the proud music from the City of Chicago Fire Department Bagpipers, leading the event.

Dwight's fire department has only about 30 firefighters, but that isn't stopping them from their goal of pulling in more than 10 times that number. Acknowledging the tragedy of Sept. 11, after all, is also a memorial and salute to the heroic work done by firefighters, paramedics, and emergency personnel of all branches.

"With the fire service, it's a family," said Dwight Fire Chief Darrin Shull. "When we lose one of our firemen, it affects everyone, no matter where you are. We lost 343 of our brothers and sisters on Sept. 11."

That showed immediately after the Twin Towers came down, he said. On Sept. 12, 2001, there were between 25,000 and 30,000 firefighters from all over the country, digging on what they thought would be a rescue mission.

Dwight Fire Department Captain Rick Huseman said he is hoping to get enough firefighters to march in the parade. It helps that it is not on Sept. 11, he said, when most local fire department will be busy hosting their own remembrances.

He has put out calls through MABAS (the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System), to which Dwight belongs, as well as several other MABAS areas. He has firefighter friends in Bloomington and Wheaton and other Illinois communities who are also planning on attending.

"We have invited at least 40 departments," Huseman said. "And I threw it out to all the MABAS divisions last August. I'm going to get hard numbers after the 11th."

Huseman said he has already received permission from the Harvest Days committee to drape a 40- by 20-foot flag over the street at Mazon and Prairie streets. There will be aerial trucks posted during the parade, as well.

The events of Sept. 11 were important and memorable for most Americans, but perhaps even more so for the country's firemen and women.

"It's the bond that we all share together," Huseman said. "When we're called, we just go."

The parade will call attention to the unity, the togetherness, and the respect of firefighters, EMS personnel, police officers, volunteers, and everyone else who "jumps in to help in an emergency."

Huseman remembers he was working in Dwight on Sept. 11, and had just gone home for his break.

"I turned the TV on and saw the fire and the smoke," he said. "I set the record button. . . With them flying into the trade centers, that was one thing. Then watching them come down, that was just incredible."

He said it pulled at his heart and brought the situation home when he saw the mangled fire trucks, the black, smoky faces of the firefighters, and the firefighters going up into the buildings while everyone else was going down and coming out.

Huseman said he hopes appropriate steps are being taken to prevent another such attack, but "if something does happen, firefighters will still go."

Shull said he was teaching a class at the academy the morning of Sept. 11, and they had just taken a break. A student turned the television on.

"At that time," Shull said, "I had no idea the towers were going to fall. When they did, I knew we're going to lose some firefighters today."

Shull said as a former U.S. Army and U.S. National Guard serviceman, one of the first things he thought was, "Someone's going to have to pay."

Dawn McGrath, a Dwight firefighter and paramedic, said she had been with the EMS about two years when the attack occurred.

"I was sitting in my apartment building watching TV while my little girl was in day care," she said. "I was just in absolute shock. I was crying. I would have gone there in a minute to help out. I wasn't even thinking of a death toll at that time."

McGrath said later her top thoughts were for all the innocent people taken that day.

"It was senseless that so many innocent people were killed," she said. "It was an attack on ordinary people who didn't do anything wrong to them. It was so thoughtless and careless, killing mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings, just to hurt people."

Even so, McGrath said she would not change her career for anything. The stakes are potentially very high, she said, but it's all worth it to be able to help others and even save lives.

"I can't imagine doing anything else," she said. "It's just part of my heart."

Dwight Fire Prevention and Safety Officer Kevin Holohan said he heard the Sept. 11 attacks happen on the radio in his car as he was driving to one of his law enforcement classes at JJC.

"I heard when the first tower got hit," he said. "In class, we all watched it on TV. Then the second tower got hit. I went to the firehouse (in Dwight). We heard it was possible there were Chicago targets. We were kind of in awe. All you could think of was who was responsible and what was next."

It was an eye-opener to our country and to fire departments, Holohan added.

"It definitely had an effect on who you are as a firefighter and who you are as a person," he said. "It wakes you up to what's out there."

Holohan said he remembers the mourning at the Harvest Days Parade the week following the event.

"That parade was a silent parade with an engine all blacked out and bagpipes playing," he said. "Everyone was saluting, and some people were crying."

Shull said this year's parade will be honoring those killed and those working today.

"We want to keep the memories of these 343 firemen alive," Shull said, "and remember that firemen put their lives on the line every day."

Shull said people can honor firefighters in their every day lives, as well, by remembering not to park by fire hydrants and doing their best to keep themselves and others safe day by day.

The Dwight Harvest Days Parade will be at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18, in downtown Dwight.