Retired Galesburg firefighter surprised at 95th birthday

GALESBURG, Ill. (AP) - There was a surprise awaiting Robert Redfern June 4. At Galesburg's Elks' lodge his friends, former coworkers and family gathered to celebrate of 95 years of life and 40 years since he retired from the Galesburg Fire Department.

Throughout his career with the fire department from 1955-1979, he saw the tragedy of Galesburg landmarks such as the library and Broadview Hotel go up in flames. He dealt with heartbreak as fatal fires occurred, taking the lives of children. He also experienced the camaraderie of life in a firehouse and the pride in helping protect the lives and property of Galesburg's residents.

Redfern grew up in Galesburg, graduating from Galesburg High School in 1942. The GHS Reflector described him as a "composed chap" and "good looking."

Like many of his generation, he went into the service during World War II.

He served in the Army Air Corps with the base engineers.

He spent the war "building runways, hangers, and all this and that, roads. I was in the survey crew and that's how I got started in surveys. Base Air Depot number one, Burtonwood, England near Liverpool."

"All you ever hear about and everything you see (when people talk about the war) is them shooting this and that. But all the airplanes had to be maintained and engines overhauled. I saw about every airplane there was at the time, B-24s, B-17s... all the fighter planes getting overhauled."

After his time in the service, he worked in the pipeline industry as part of the survey crew. He was involved in laying a pipeline from Oklahoma to Chicago before joining the maintenance crew. After several years, the crew was to be shifted to South Dakota.

"My daughter had just started first grade in school," he explained, "and there was an opening in the fire department and a friend of mine said to "come on and join," so I said OK and went on the fire department."

He was one of six men to join in late 1955.

"But civilians don't become police officers and firefighters simply by donning a uniform," commented the Register-Mail at the time, "there's a lot of "savvy" needed, so the men are going to school to learn the details of the trade."

When he started, there were three firehouses in Galesburg. The Central Fire Station of Simmons Street, the Maple Avenue Fire Station, and the Brooks Street Fire Station where he spent most of his career.

He has seen many changes in equipment over the years, noting how much bigger the trucks are now, for example.

"I had our little old American LeFrance, it would pump water like all the big ones. Hookup, put her in gear and off she went."

For $325 a month, he and his comrades would work 24 hours on, then 24 hours off. The department provided the helmet and the coat, but the firefighters had to pay for their own boots and other protective equipment. Usually two men would work a shift at the firehouse. The airpacks that firefighters use to breathe in smoky situations didn't come along to the department until the mid 1960s and only lasted for short periods.

Redfern was present at one of Galesburg's most infamous fires, the burning of the Public Library in 1958.

"I was at the hospital, my son was born that day," he recalled.

"The nurse came in and said "there's a big fire, they want you to go back to work," and I thought she was joking. She says "look here, out the window," and I looked out the window and boy, it was blazing."

"We had the Broadview Hotel, furniture stores and stuff. A lot of big fires."

One of the darker parts of firefighting in any era is the tragedy of the aftermath of fatal fires.

"After a while you just know what you got to do," Redfern explained.

"I was in the truck there pumping water usually. Sometimes you had to go in, too. It's something you just get used to... It's when you finally get home that it really sinks in."

Modern smoke detectors weren't around when he started and the ones that did exist "weren't worth a darn," he said.

He recalled the worst situation he had to go through.

"Right after I started there, I'd been on maybe a year or so. Had a fire out on the east end of town. A little baby, in a little crib. The people didn't have much money so they had a homemade vaporizer hooked up. The extension cord caught fire. I went in there with the assistant chief and a couple of other guys, and the kid was dead. Right at the beginning, and oh my God something terrible like that, especially when you have little kids of your own."

There was joy with the pain though. First and foremost, with the men he served with.

"Just a great bunch of guys."

There are memories of cooking liver and onions; of tough deer meat. The time he was driving the truck to a fire and while stopped at a stop sign, a fellow firefighter thought they were at the fire and jumped off, getting himself left behind.

Boone's Alley, with its infamous block of taverns, laid in front of the Central Fire Station and provided its own source of entertainment sometimes, as did the bar located across from the Brook Street station.

"Saw a lot of fights over there," Redfern chuckled.

At Fogerty's Tavern in Boone's Alley, he recalled how the "old guys" used to go there.

"There was this one guy, he was an old railroader, he always rode his bike down there. So he'd park it out in front there, so we'd take it and put it along the side of the building. He'd come out and look and his bike was gone. He'd go back in the tavern and tell them that somebody took his bike, and while he was in there we'd run back over and stick in back in front. We had him so damned confused."

Over 30 people came to wish the father, grandfather, and great-grandfather well on Tuesday, including former comrades and members of the current Galesburg firefighting force.

"I'm just glad to still be here," Redfern told the room, "and to have served with a bunch of good guys."

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Source: The (Galesburg) Register-Mail, https://bit.ly/318hM92

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Information from: The Register-Mail, http://www.register-mail.com