“No
day shall erase you from the memory of time.”
~ Virgil
~ 70
B.C. – 19 B.C.
I
shot this image of the FDNY Dream Bike at the National September 11 Memorial
Museum on an April day in Lower Manhattan, New York City.
In
the summer of 2001, Firefighter Gerard Baptiste, FDNY Ladder Company 9,
purchased a battered 1979 Honda motorcycle, model CB750. Baptiste believed that
he could restore it to good working order. His fellow firefighters joked that
it would take time and money just to start the engine. Following Baptiste’s
death in the North Tower on 9/11, the broken-down motorcycle remained at the
firehouse until a memorial tribute in “Backroads” magazine inspired Baptiste’s
colleagues to restore the bike in his memory. Surviving members of Ladder
Company 9, with support from Honda and motorcycle enthusiasts nationwide,
transformed the motorcycle into a “bike of healing” known as the Dream Bike.
Ten roses painted on the cover its gas tank symbolize the members of Ladder
Company 9 and Engine Company 33 who were killed on 9/11.
The
documentary film “FDNY Dream Bike,” directed and written by John Allison, was
released in 2005.
The
Virgil quote has been fashioned out of salvaged remnants of damaged World Trade
Center steel and is located in Memorial Hall inside the museum, where it will
stand in perpetuity at the site of the attacks as a promise that we will never
forget those taken from us on that terrible day.
