Ditto That!
Have you forgotten September 11th? John and Amy Holmgren's Rolling Memorial was created to make sure that you don’t.
John Holmgren said he got the idea to create a memorial to the victims of September 11, after hearing country singer Darryl Worley’s song “Have You Forgotten.”
Holmgren and his wife are the owner, operators of Rosepath Transportation of Shafer and decided that their memorial would be a show truck.
Holmgren's friend Arlee Simpson of Applied Image, Fargo, ND, and mural artist Paul Kosienski of Kosienski Signs, Fargo, ND, helped Holmgren's idea become a reality.
“The whole truck is designed to respect the victims,” Holmgren said in talking about the truck and memorial during a visit to The Home Depot in Forest Lake late last month.
Truck’s details
The driver’s side of the trailer features the World Trade Center towers along with the Statue of Liberty with the American Flag flying behind. A set of spiritual hands are outreached as several doves are depicted as flying out of the city.
There is a sky blue background for the rest of the trailer as all the names of the victims that were in the towers are listed. The names of those who perished on the three different air planes that hit the towers are one two separate scrolls on both sides of the list of those who were in the building.
The rear of the trailer has a graphic of the Pentagon. The right door has the names of the civilians who were lost on the attack on the Pentagon, and the left door features the names of military personnel lost.
The driver’s side of the tractor features a mural of a New York police officer holding a young child as he escorts the child and its mother away from the towers.
“The tractor trailer is a work in progress,” Holmgren said.
The names of the police, Port Authority, and K-9 units lost will be printed on both sides of the mural. The passenger side will eventually feature a mural of a fireman covered in dust with the names of the 343 fire and EMS personnel lost.
The front of the tractor will have the now famous image of the three firefighters raising the flag from the rubble at Ground Zero.
The passenger side of the trailer will be the same as the driver’s side.
More than a number
“I’m tired of hearing people saying it’s just a number,” Holmgren said.
Holmgren hopes to have the truck finished sometime in August.
“The only way that will happen is if we get corporate sponsorship,” Holmgren said.
If he can’t obtain corporate sponsorship, Holmgren figures the truck will be done some time in September
“I don’t know how well it will go, I’m just a trucker who had an idea,” Holmgren said.
Holmgren is taking his Rolling Memorial to Heros Bar and Grill in Milltown, WI, Aug. 29-30 for a benefit. The benefit is for the fallen Sgt. 1st Class Dan Gabrielson from Frederic, WI, who was killed last month in Iraq.
Holmgren and Heros Bar and Grill hope to raise $50,000 at the benefit for Gabrielson’s family.
Special fund
Holmgren has also started the “Have You Forgotten Memorial Fund.”
The fund is to help educate the relatives of victims and heros of 9/11 by offering scholarships. The hope is to be able to help everyone who applies for the scholarship.
The scholarship is more of a loan the way Holmgren explains it.
“It is a loan to be paid back over 15 years with no interest,” Holmgren said.
The fund will be kept at a local Wells Fargo bank. Holmgren wants to keep it local because he feels it is easier to watch over it and make sure it is legitimate that way.
Once the paperwork is finished, you will be able to watch the fund grow on the Rolling Memorial’s web site at www.therollingmemorial.com.