Photo credit: © Joe McNally
Accession Number: C.2013.644.5
Dimensions: 109 in X 44 in X 0.08 in
Dimensions (Metric): 276.86 cm X 111.76 cm X 0.2032 cm
Credit Line: Gift of Joe McNally in thanks for ADORAMA's ongoing generous support of the Faces of Ground Zero Collection and of the "Faces of Ground Zero - 10 Years Later" Exhibit, 2011. Courtesy, Ellen Price, Inc. © Joe McNally.
Historical NotesAs chauffer of FDNY Ladder Company 9, firefighter Michael Wernick drove the company’s truck to the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, 2001, and entered the North Tower with his fellow firefighters. Wernick had climbed the stairs to the 27th floor when he felt and heard loud rumblings that he later learned was the sound of the South Tower collapsing. Ordered to evacuate, Wernick and others methodically made their way down. He reached the lobby and exited the building moments before it, too, collapsed.
Among the Ladder 9 firefighters killed that day was
Gerard Baptiste, a young firefighter, who, earlier that summer, had purchased an old motorcycle and asked Wernick and others in the firehouse to help him restore it. Months later, they began the process of transforming Baptiste’s battered motorcycle into a memorial that became known as the
Dream Bike.