Motorcycle From Defining 9/11 Image Now On Display In Milwaukee

New York City firefighter Tim Duffy rides his Harley-Davidson motorcycle through the rubble during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. His motorcycle is now on display at the Harley-Davidson museum in Milwaukee. Photo courtesy of Allan Tannenbaum/Sohoblues.com

On Sept. 11, 2001, New York City firefighter Tim Duffy was off duty, working on tuning up his Harley. He had just pulled out a spark plug when he heard a large boom.

It was followed by the sound of sirens.

Duffy reached for the phone to call his fire department. He was on the phone with his wife when he saw the second plane hit the Twin Towers from his kitchen window.

“I grabbed an FDNY T-shirt, went and put the spark plug back in and jumped on my bike,” Duffy told WPR in an interview.

He rode first to his fire station, where he watched the events unfold on television before putting on his turnout gear.

“My training said I gotta go,” Duffy said. “The city of New York has never had a recall (bringing firefighters who are off duty), but I knew you know working downtown, knowing the area, knowing those buildings, I knew that it was just going to be massive casualties, and that any fireman that could get in should get in.”

Ultimately, off-duty firefighters were called in. But many, like Duffy, were already making their way to the site of the attacks to help.

“And again, the training we receive in New York City is second to none, to the point where you know I don’t remember being afraid at all,” he said.

Duffy headed to the scene, helping people along the way and navigating debris on his Harley. That’s where photojournalist Allan Tannenbaum captured his image.

New York City firefighter Tim Duffy sits on his motorcycle at the Harley-Davidson museum in Milwaukee on Sept. 4. He was photographed riding it through the rubble on 9/11. Photo courtesy of Harley-Davidson museum

“I heard a motorcycle, and I turned around, and here’s this firefighter in full turnout gear, coming down Broadway on this Harley-Davidson,” Tannenbaum said. “I got one frame of that, and that’s the picture of Tim Duffy.”

It became one of the best-known photographs of that day, an image that symbolizes the bravery of first responders. Nearly 3,000 people were killed on 9/11, including 343 New York City firefighters and paramedics and 71 law enforcement officers.

This month, in time for the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Duffy’s motorcycle has become part of the collection at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee.

Harley-Davidson reached out to Duffy asking him to display the bike. He kept it all these years, but had to give up riding two years ago after an accident.

“It was bittersweet because it was kind of my sanity,” He said. “I always knew if I was having a tough day, I could jump on it and ride out for a couple hours, come back, and jump back into life.”

Duffy said many people have written letters to him saying the photograph inspired them to become first responders. That helped him part ways with his beloved bike.

“The letters that I get from the veterans, especially, and the firefighters, they’re so heart-wrenching,” Duffy said. “I just felt selfish if I kept it here in the garage.”

He said another museum in New York asked him to display his bike, but he ended up picking Milwaukee’s museum instead because it’s where Harley-Davidson was founded.

“I just love the area, I love the people.” Duffy said. “It being home to Harley, I know it’s in good hands and they’ll take care of it. So I have no worries about it being there.”

Director of Harley-Davidson Experience Centers Megan Suardini said this gives Midwesterners a look at a 9/11 history they don’t have to travel far to see.

“Our local community and Wisconsin residents and tourists can come down and check it out and see it for themselves, and not have to fly to New York City on 9/11 to honor and remember that tragic day,” Suardini said.

Suardini helped organize a ceremony this month to announce the display of the new bike. It included speeches from Duffy and Tannenbaum. She said the audience was very emotional hearing their stories.

“Having Tim on stage, there was not a dry eye in the audience as he relayed his story,” she said. “It’s more than a motorcycle. People don’t ride motorcycles; they are part of their motorcycle, so by having this artifact in the museum, you’re looking at a piece of history.”

Motorcycle from iconic 9/11 photograph becomes part of Harley-Davidson Museum collection was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.

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