Excerpts from the Herald-news.com:
James Lausch, an apparatus operator with the Joliet Fire Department, died on Dec. 30, 1984, at the station after fighting fires that night.
Lausch was one of 19 former area firefighters who died in the line of duty and were honored at a small ceremony Saturday at the EMS/Fire Science Training Center at Joliet Junior College.
The ceremony also was meant to unveil a small, traveling memorial with all the names, titles, and dates of death for the 19 firefighters. Eventually, Joliet Firefighter Bryan Ogrizovich, a member of the honor guard and pipes and drums, wants to erect a permanent memorial.
The planning began about a year ago for the memorial so he is using the traveling memorial to show that there is an interest in establishing a permanent one.
There are not any specific plans as of yet for the location, construction, and funding for the memorial, but Ogrizovich wants to continue honoring the fallen. This was the first time such a memorial has been held for the local fallen firefighters.
The earliest firefighter honored was William Gardiner, a Lockport volunteer firefighter who died on Dec. 17, 1897.
