Amid the solemn sound of a bagpipe, two firefighters perched in the fire truck’s bucket hung a gray helmet on a light pole above the intersection of 14th and H streets in Northwest D.C.
The helmet bore the inscription LODD, line of duty death, and it honors firefighter John T. Williams, who died while searching for victims of a fire in a building at this intersection on Dec. 19, 1984.
“I’m so overwhelmed with joy and just honored that people are still thinking about my dad 40-something odd years later,” daughter Angelique Williams said. “It means so much that these guys are still family. They’re still in our lives.”
The helmet honoring Williams is the first of 102 helmets that will go up in all eight wards, honoring firefighters who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the city since 1856. The memorials will go up on light poles near sites where the firefighters died.
“It’s important that we remember this past,” said D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John A. Donnelly Sr.
Below each of the hanging helmets, a plaque at street level will tell the story of the firefighter who died nearby, including a QR code that can be scanned to learn more about the fallen hero.
On Tuesday, two helmets went up, one for Williams and another for Lt. Kevin McRae on 7th Street NW, for his service on May 6, 2015.
“Our goal in this project is to bring recognition to all of our firefighters, the sacrifices they make on a daily basis,” Capt. Dennis Carmody said. “Our ultimate goal is to make sure that none of our firefighters who we lost in a line of duty are forgotten.”
For Williams, she hopes those who stop to learn more about her father and the other fallen firefighters realize that they meant the world to those they left behind.
“He was a good father, a good husband, a good son, and a good brother and uncle,” Angelique said.
The fire department, PEPCO and the District Department of Transportation will work together to install all the helmets across D.C.
In addition to the helmet memorial, work continues toward the D.C. Fire Fighters Memorial project, which has a goal of setting up a permanent memorial to honor the fallen.
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