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Band Goes to IAFF Memorial in Colorado Springs

Members of the New London Fire Fighters Pipes and Drums attend the 2008 Fallen Fire Fighters Memorial in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial Foundation was founded in 1976 to recognize and honor past and future professional fire fighters and emergency medical personnel who are killed in the line of duty and to provide funds and assistance to the surviving spouses and children of those members. In 1986, the IAFF and the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial Foundation completed a permanent tribute to its members, the IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The centerpiece of the Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial is a bronze likeness of a fire fighter descending a ladder while cradling an infant in one arm. Towering 20 feet above the parks surface, Somewhere, Everyday epitomizes the courage and bravery displayed daily by professional fire fighters across the continent. In 1989, the IAFF erected the first of two granite walls to bear the names of fallen IAFF members. The names of brothers and sisters killed in the line of duty have been etched here since. Although thousands have died throughout our unions history, the names on this wall date back only through 1976, when the U.S. federal government first began tracking line-of-duty deaths in the fire service.

Last year, band members traveled to Emmetsburg, Maryland to play in a mass band for the President of the United States remembering fallen fire fighters at the memorial in that city.