Chicagoans head east in tribute to victims of 9/11
By Mark J. Konkol
Chicago Sun Times
Copyright 2006 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Chicago Fire Department Lt. Tom Maloney hadn’t been to New York City and never really wanted to go there.
Then jumbo jets buckled the World Trade Center towers -- covering lower Manhattan in crushed concrete and spreading utter terror in America -- and nothing could keep him away.
Two days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Maloney packed up his van, picked up a buddy and headed to New York at dusk, his heart filled with the passion of a patriot.
“I had to go, and right away,” he said.
Lots of Chicagoans -- cops, firefighters and kind souls -- felt that way, too. Some made their own mad dash to the broken heart of a city ravaged by terrorism.
Firefighter Stan Salata and Fire Lt. Joel Burns and Chicago Police Officer Dominick Kerns and Maloney’s brothers -- Jim the police lieutenant and Pat the fire captain -- also went from Chicago to search for survivors in the rubble at Ground Zero, finding none.
KEEPS HIM GOING BACK
They prefer not to be called heroes, at least not for what they did back then. They’re just regular guys who did what they had to do.
For Maloney, that was barreling out of town on the Skyway in the middle of the night with fellow firefighter Ed Newcomer in tow, an American flag flapping from his van’s back window.
That first trip to New York -- the rush through the night and absolute horror of what he saw and things he did -- left an indelible mark on Maloney and guys like him.
It’s what keeps him going back every September, retracing the route on his fire engine red Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Wednesday morning, the Northwest Side resident set off on another pilgrimage, leaving from Sox Park with about 70 other bikers to pay tribute to the thousands who died in the deadliest attack on American soil.
Chicago and State Police shut down the Dan Ryan Expy. as the caravan hit the road with a thunderous roar at exactly 9:11 a.m.
‘GOTTA GET THERE’
The “Truck of Honor” -- a semi painted as a rolling memorial mural to the emergency crews who died at the World Trade Center and soldiers killed since then -- tailed close behind.
On Sept. 13, 2001, the Chicago Skyway lights twinkled high over the Southeast Side as Maloney and Newcomer left town with the pedal to the floor.
“We were cooking, 90 mph the whole way,” Maloney said.
“All I could think was, ‘Gotta get there.’ ”
In Ohio that night, Maloney saw headlights zooming up on his van, which was decorated with a magnetic sign that read “Chicago.” A state trooper pulled alongside, flipped on his cherries and interior light so Maloney could see his face.
‘AIN’T THAT SOMETHING?’
“He pointed ahead, signaling like we should follow him. Then he sped up, and we followed,” Maloney said. “When one trooper left, another appeared, all the way to the border. We had a police escort through three quarters of Ohio. It was amazing.”
On Wednesday, the caravan of bikers moved with less urgency past dead steel mills, over the Calumet River and east on Interstate 80. There was no police escort in the Hoosier State, where the fuzz pulled over the “Truck of Honor” for going 75 mph in the left lane.
Michigan-based truckers Bo Trout and Brian Hitchcock got a stern talking-to but no ticket.
The irony of the traffic stop wasn’t lost on Maloney, president of the American Firefighters Motorcycle Club’s Chicago chapter and 9/11 ride organizer.
“In five years, we went from a police escort to getting pulled over,” he said. “Ain’t that something?”
SADNESS EXPECTED TO BUILD
By midafternoon, New York was still too far away to tug at heavy emotions at the heart of the trip. There was still pure joy in riding as the easy plains met rolling hills.
But by Day 2, Maloney expects to feel the first tinge of sadness as the riders place a memorial stone at the Flight 93 crash site in Shanksville, Pa.
“When we get there,” Maloney says, “you start to realize where we’re going, and why.”