It wasn’t just a normal day for Jake Halloran (MSB ‘08), but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, either.
Last Friday, Halloran went to the White House to join the family members of hundreds of public safety officers who lost their lives on 9/11. At a ceremony on the South Lawn, President Bush awarded posthumous Medals of Valor to 442 officers for their heroism that day.
Halloran’s father was among them.
“It’s not that the event was routine,” Halloran said. “But some families weren’t necessarily experiencing any big emotional reactions.” He described the mood of the ceremony as quietly respectful.
Vincent Halloran was a fireman of 20 years who was working at a firehouse in Tribeca just blocks from the World Trade Center when the planes struck the Twin Towers. The Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor is the highest honor that public safety officers-including firefighters, police officers and emergency medial technicians-can earn. The medals are inscribed with the words, “For extraordinary valor above and beyond the call of duty.”
“We recognize a group of Americans whose bravery and commitment to their fellow citizens showed us the true meaning of heroism,” Bush said, according to a White House press release. “(T)heir sacrifice will always be remembered.”
For Halloran’s father Vincent, being a fireman was something that came naturally to him. “He joined the fire department with a bunch of his neighborhood friends who he’d stayed in touch with since grammar school,” Halloran said.
It was through his work that Vincent met Halloran’s mother. “While he was on the job my mom locked herself out of her apartment with the oven left on,” Halloran explained. “His company was the one that got her and her roommates back into their apartment.”
His father was a patient man, Halloran said, who would have sat through Friday’s long, hot ceremony without complaint while Attorney General Alberto Gonzales read aloud the names of those honored.
After Gonzales spoke, Bush took the podium to share stories of 9/11 heroes and urge Americans to respect their sacrifices by focusing on winning the global War on Terror, Halloran said. “The speech had its ups and downs,” Halloran said. “I didn’t like Bush mentioning the war in Iraq and trying to tie it to 9/11. I didn’t think that was appropriate for the event.”
The medals were handed out by soldiers whom Halloran believed to be Marines.
Halloran said his father might have found it funny to receive such an illustrious award.
“He was never really the perfect kid, per se,” Halloran said.
