Fire Truck That Responded To 9/11 Attacks Visits Chicago School
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A New York fire truck that responded to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center paid a visit to a grade school in Portage Park on Thursday, as part of an effort to teach children who were too young to understand the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
Suzi Gantz, a 5th grade teacher at O.A. Thorp Scholastic Academy, had her class touch the truck, FDNY Rescue 4.
"Touch a truck is my motto," she said. "It is a piece of history, and the energy that you get, that I get every time I put my hands on the truck, is just overwhelming."
Remembrance Rescue Project volunteer coordinator Scott Vaughn, a retired Lincolnshire firefighter, gave the kids a history lesson, telling the kids eight New York firefighters were on the truck when it responded to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
"They were all inside the south tower when the south tower collapsed," he said. "I'm holding on to that same steering wheel, I'm looking through the same windshield. I go through the same mix of emotions every time I get in it."
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The truck has traveled 50,000 miles in recent years, and does break down on occasion, including on Super Bowl Sunday in Albuquerque, where the local fire department took care of it.
"Super Bowl Sunday, during the game, they came out and fixed it," Vaughn said.
