A Milwaukee-area firefighter’s parade float honoring firefighters lost on 9-11 has been shunned by the firefighters union. The float was designed with a grid that looked like a portion of one of the severely damaged buildings after the twin towers collapsed, with artificial building rubble spread across the floor of a small flatbed truck. A flagpole like the one in the famous photo was extended from one end of the float, and the firefighters posted scrolls with the names of all the firefighters, police officers and emergency workers killed in the 2001 attacks.

The float has been in previous parades and has drawn enthusiastic responses from parade watchers.

Matt Gorniak, a Milwaukee-area fire lieutenant is the driving force behind the float. With the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks coming up later this year, Gorniak and his church’s youth group decided to revive the float in Racine’s upcoming Independence Day parade, one of the biggest in the area.

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