This article is from page 65 of the 2011-11-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 65 JPG
A RETIRED fireman with strong family links to Clare is spearheading a campaign to honour victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Bill Whelan was among hundreds of firemen who took part in the rescue effort when hijacked planes were flown into the two towers of the World Trade Centre 10 years ago. Over 300 Fire Department of New York (FDNY) personnel were killed in the attacks, including a workmate of Bill’s.
Now living in Florida, Bill, whose brother Jack has lived in Ennis for almost 40 years, is pledging to hon our the sacrifices made by firemen on 9/11.
As a member of the Gulf Coast Retired Firefighters Association, Bill is involved in a drive to raise money for a memorial sculpture built using pieces of steel from the World Trade Centre towers.
He explains, “It’s an American flag blowing in the wind. It’s going to be all granite, 13ft high. It’s like a wave. It’s going to be set on a map of the US. Then we have a walkway around it, like the way the Pentagon is set up. We have bricks, if anybody wants to buy a brick to memorialise a family member who is a police officer or a fireman. Doesn’t really have to be that, it can be anybody. You can buy a brick for € 100 and it will be there forever.”
A regular visitor to Ennis and Sixmilebridge, where his sister lives, Bill was off duty when news broke of the unfolding disaster at the World Trade Centre. However, the then Brooklyn-based firefighter volunteered his services and arrived at the Ground Zero site around 15 minutes after the towers collapsed
He recalls, “We were just going through the buildings that surrounded the Trade Centre. We got into the centre as best we could. You did what you could. There was total silence.”
Bill says the awful memory of the day still lives with him. “It’s there every day. Every day you think of it, especially when we get together with other firefighters. That’s tough. A lot of people are still crying. You have fathers looking for sons, sons looking for fathers, brothers looking for brothers.”
Originally from Tullamore, Bill moved to New York in the 1970s, working in the retail business before joining the Army. He joined the Fire Service in March 1970, working in one of the busiest areas of the city for 25 years.
He says, “I hated to leave. I wish I could go back. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, I don’t know if you ever saw New York in those years – Brooklyn and the Bronx, it was horrible. They were burning houses and buildings down. You could almost pick your fire when you went out on the job. You could see the smoke on the horizon. And then on your way to a job, you’d pick up another job. So there was a lot of work, an awful lot of work. And we lost a lot of guys.”
Bill adds, “Since I went on in 1970 till I got out – of course 9/11 was the big one – but we lost, I think it was 144 guys before 9/11, just on my time, line-of-duty deaths. The injuries were absolutely horrendous also. But it was a great job.”