Crime & Safety

Patches Nearby: 9/11 MEMORIAL RIDE: Ground Zero, Sept. 12

The West Pierce riders visit a station that's right at ground zero, and they visit the site themselves.

(Editor's note: , four firefighters from West Pierce Fire & Rescue are riding their motorcycles cross-country to New York for the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. They are providing daily dispatches to Patch)

We started our day going to a Brooklyn station that housed 255 Engine and 157 Ladder tower.

Before leaving on our trip, Rick was given a banner and challenge coins by representatives from the Hero to Hero's organization to deliver to this particular station. When we arrived, they sat us down in the kitchen and fed us lunch. The engine was out and the ladder crew advised us to park inside — not a great neighborhood and we had all of our belongings on our bikes.

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We presented them with the banner and coins, and they gave us t-shirts from their ladder company. The guys were so nice and happy we were there. We then made our way to ground zero, where a nice young police officer let us park the bikes behind a barricade and watched them for us while we went for photos.

The pictures shown are the new construction at ground zero. The memorial on the side of the station at ground zero was the first one done, by a private law firm because nothing was being done by anyone else. We left the city and spent a night in Allentown, PA. We were unable to get to the Pentagon. We did stop at the Harley Davidson production plant in York, PA and toured the place where all of our bikes were made!

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We went from there to Gettysburg, where it wasn't raining this time and we enjoyed touring the battlefield monuments and museum. On to the Blue Ridge Parkway tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Capt. Greg Johnson


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