In 1958, I was about the same age as the children at OLA. Although I was only dimly aware of the catastrophy at the time, I remember staring for hours at a huge fire prevention poster in a local storefront window. The poster was the famous Steve Lasker photo of Chicago fireman Richard Scheidt carrying a dead little boy, 10-year-old John Jajkowski, from the ravaged school (this picture is in the photo gallery). I remember being moved by the poster: the boy was my age, the school was of very similar construction to my school - basically, a fire trap. That could have been ME in the poster! For years after that, I would often fantasize about being a fireman and rescuing my friends from my burning school. In fact years later, for a time, I became a volunteer fireman.
Over the years I have thought about that poster quite often, and wished I knew more about the circumstances behind it. Then I discovered the excellent book "To Sleep With the Angels" by Cowan and Kuenster, and at last I knew the story. When I found there were no web sites devoted strictly to the OLA fire, I decided to build this one.
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