Excerpts from wgntv.com:
A memorial honoring some of Chicago’s bravest who helped out in New York after 9/11 is stuck in storage. The tribute to Chicago firefighters was donated four years ago but still does not have a home.
Herbie Johnson was among a group of Chicago firefighters that spent the better part of a month in New York. They formed friendships with their counterparts that still exist to this day.
Johnson died in November 2012 while battling a blaze in the Gage Park neighborhood. The following summer, some of his friends from New York came to town to take part in a memorial golf outing held in Captain Johnson’s honor. They brought with them some steel from a fallen tower, and it is now at Johnson’s old firehouse, Engine 123 at 51st and Leavitt.
The piece is meant to be put on public display for all the Chicago firefighters who helped during those dark days. But a second piece now sits on a pallet at a city warehouse on 39th Street collecting dust. Johnson’s family and others within the CFD ranks can’t understand why it’s still there and what is taking so long for it to be prominently displayed as a tribute somewhere in Chicago.
The Johnsons have called the South Side’s 19th Ward their home for decades. It’s a place where many firefighters call home. Local Alderman Matt O’Shea said he only recently found out about the steel situation, and he too thinks the fire department has dropped the ball. He suggested King Lockhart Park at 106th and Western, which honors two firefighters who died in 1998, would be perfect for the steel tribute.
Fire department spokesman Larry Langford says they have been working with an artist in Utah who has volunteered his time and efforts to create a memorial. They are waiting for a rendering from him but the artist has been sick. The department said it continues to reach out to him, but to no avail.
thanks Dan
