This is a story about a patriotic couple. They are the owner operators of an 18 wheel rig. Their names are John & Amy Holmgren. They live in Shafer Minn. They had the idea for a rolling memorial to the victims of the 9-11 terrorist attack on our country.
Their rig has every name of each person that lost their life on 9-11. This concept was thought up by John and Amy, and totally paid for by them. John says he will be awhile paying the loan off that he had to take out to do it but, thought this was the least he could do. Applied Graphics in Fargo ND did most of the work and Paul Kosenski did the Hand painting.
He said that he got to meet the Country Singer Darryl Worley, who Sang the song "Have You Forgotten" and has gotten pulled over 3 times by the police just to get their picture taken by this truck. (I would have pulled him over too!)
He plans on attending the Mid America Truck show in Louisville, KY in March. It is called the Rolling 9-11 Memorial, it has all the names of the people that were killed on that day and the flights they were on plus some other graphics on the side of the tractor.
Here are some more pictures of this patriotic rig:
The Rolling Memorial is a semi-trailer truck painted with a mural intended to honor the victims of the 9/11 attacks. The project was conceived by John Holmgren of Shafer, Minnesota in the United States after hearing the song "Have You Forgotten" by country singer Darryl Worley.
An over-the-road truck driver, Holgren transformed his 18-wheeler into the tribute with the help of a mural artist. The mural image, along with the names of the victims of the attack, were printed onto vinyl sheets and applied to the truck at a cost of nearly $40,000 USD. Holgren sold t-shirts, toy models of the truck and other merchandise to cover expenses but has nonetheless gone into debt. Chemical structure of the vinyl functional group. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ...
Holgren displays the truck all over the U.S. and continues to use it to transport freight when possible. In an interview with the Star Tribune, he said "Troopers pull me over just to get a picture with the truck. Once I even got out of a ticket. The guy said, 'I can't give this to you, knowing what you're doing.'"[1] Holgren has received emails from over 20 countries, and there are several websites devoted to his truck. He has also met with families of 9/11 victims. The Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in Minnesota and is published seven days each week in an edition for the Minneapolis-St. ...
An article in a trucking industry magazine RoadStarOnline says that there is a plan to donate the truck to New York City in 2006, but it is now 2007 and there is no evidence this has happened.
There are pictures of the truck at Mall of America on flickr.com. None are newer than October 2006. One picture has the caption "Gear Up sponsored this panel on the Rolling Memorial commemorating the sacrifice of the 343 on 911." [4]
A personal page on the social website fubar.com [5] dated September 11, 2006, claims that the author "Kris 'kjohnson' Johnson" age 23 has bought the truck to add to his fleet of 6 trucks, and will display it for charities:
I went to an orientation for Magnum Transportation in Fargo ND. While I was there I met a guy who told me about this "Rolling Memorial Truck" that was for sale. His name was John Holmgren. He was buying the truck from Can Am Transportation, but when the company went under the truck got taken away from him. He put me in contact with the owner yesterday, the owner told me what he wanted for it. I called the bank got the loan and picked up the truck. I am not putting this truck on the road, it will strictly be a show truck with 50% of proceeds going to the 9/11 charities, the other 50% going to MS, Cancer, and other charities of that sort.
The truck is a 1999 Freightliner Century, It has a series 60 Detroit Diesel motor (which is 460 HP) a 13 speed Eaton Fuller Transmission, with 355 rears....The trailer is a 1998 53 foot Utility trailer with sliding tandems, the refrigeration unit is built by Thermo King INC....The Truck Number Is 911. The Trailer Number Is 2001."
