CARIBOU, Maine — Roger Felix, commander of the VFW Lister-Knowlton Post 9389, presented Caribou firefighters and first-responders with a flag flown over Ground Zero in New York City during a spaghetti dinner held at the Caribou VFW last Friday.
“I thought about something meaningful we could give them for their facility,” said Felix. “You come into the VFW and see posters, plaques, and it’s all about history. Unfortunately, for the Fire Department and first-responders, history is usually something that deals with sacrifice and pain. Something that people never forget, such as the horrific actions that happened during 9/11, when over 3,000 people lost their lives.
“I reached out to someone who happened to be retired from the Army. He helped me do something that I wanted to for these guys; I had a flag flown at Ground Zero for this department, because of their selfless service to our nation,” he added.
The price of admission for the dinner was a simple donation to the Red Cross. These donations help fund a campaign in which the Red Cross and local fire department properly install working smoke detectors into Aroostook County homes. The local effort is part of a national Red Cross campaign to reduce fire-related injuries and deaths by 25 percent.
“This has been a huge campaign,” said Caribou Fire Dept. Crew 2 Captain Dan Raymond, “I was there that morning those two kids burned, so this means a lot. Hopefully we can get some more smoke detectors out there and save some lives.”
