Morrison Fire Department Chief David Benters, standing left, congratulates retiring Fireman David Gene Brandon, Jr., on Wednesday, November 21, 2018. Brandon was initiated into the local Department on November 21, 1990–28 years ago. He wore a 25-year service pin on his tie for the occasion. Brandon had continued as a Fireman three years beyond receiving the prestigious 25-years-service, commemorative watch in 2015.
“Tom Nye got me on the Fire Department. He was a member when I started,” recalled Brandon. This is the usual way to recruit new men. “The whole membership is actively looking for a new member.” Their maximum number is 30. “We just put on three in the last year,” he noted.
When asked why he decided to retire now, he replied, “I’ve aged out. There is an age limit of 65 in the Department.” He explained he will continue to “socialize here on Saturday mornings.”
In his 28 years as a local firefighter, Brandon was never injured. His “favorite” duties included the notorious, winter fires at Fenton, IL, Markman Peat Corporation and Volckmann Furniture/Ethan Allen Factory in Morrison, IL. The former began on Friday, January 15, 1999; the latter started Friday, February 22, 2002. He remembered a call to assist Morrison Community Hospital during a power outage, when he helped put up portable lights in the halls.
He has neither travel plans nor hobbies to explore. However, Brandon’s wife, Emily, expects him to “go hunting this fall and help farmers with fall work.” She, too, is a First Responder, having served as an EMT with CGH Medical Center for 25 years. For ten of those years, she was a member of Morrison EMS (Area Ambulance Association.)
David, Jr. owns “an antique 1946 KB6 International Fire Truck, with a John Been pressure pump. It’s pretty much in storage, out at the farm where my parents live. It is the first truck I fought a fire with, at [age] 15, when Harmon, IL, still had it in service. I showed up with the truck. A fireman handed me a hose to use, to knock down the hot spots.”
The Brandons share six children: Melissa Brandon, Michelle Brandon, Jeremy Brandon, Bruce Darby, Matthew Darby, and Amy Ryan.
Before joining Morrison Fire Department, Brandon worked with Harmon Fire Department for two years and Tampico, IL, Fire Department for “about five years.” That makes 35 years of service for him. Emily has served 25 years. Dave, Sr. and Frances, combined, served 45 years as Firefighters in Stevensville, MT. The Brandon family has accrued 105 years of dedication to public safety.
“Well done, thou good and faithful servants!“
