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Cl THE MALTESE CROSS

The Maltese Cross is a symbol of protection, a badge of honor and its story is hundreds of years old.

When a courageous band of crusaders, known as the Knights of St. John, fought the Saracens for possession for the Holy Land, they encountered a new weapon unknown to European warriors.  It was a simple, but horrible, device of war; it brought excruciating pain and agonizing death upon the brave fighters for the Cross.

The Saracens’ weapon was fire!

As the Crusaders advanced on the walls of the city, they were struck by glass bombs containing naphtha.  When they became saturated with the highly flammable liquid, the Saracens hurled a flaming tree into their midst.  Hundreds of knights were burned alive.  Others risked their lives to save their brothers in arms from dying painful, fiery deaths.

Thus these men became our first firemen, and the first of a long list of courageous firefighters.  Their heroic efforts were recognized by fellow Crusaders who awarded each hero a badge of honor: a cross similar to the one firemen wear today.

Since the Knights of St. John lived for close to four centuries on a little island in the Mediterranean Sea named Malta, the cross came to be known as the Maltese Cross.

The Maltese Cross is a symbol of protection.  It means that the fireman who wears this cross is willing to lay down his life for you, just as the Crusaders sacrificed their lives for their fellow man so many years ago.

The Maltese Cross is a fireman’s badge of honor, signifying that he works in courage…a ladder rung away from death.

“I have no ambition in this world but one, and that is to be a firefighter.  The position may, in the eyes of some, appear to be a lowly one; but we who know the work which the firefighter has to do believe that his is a noble calling.  There is an adage which says that, “Nothing can be destroyed except by fire.”  We strive to preserve from destruction the wealth of the world which is the product of the industry of men, necessary for the comfort of both the rich and the poor.  We are defenders from fires of the art which has beautified the world, the product of the genius of men and the means of refinement of mankind.  But, above all; our proudest endeavor is to save the lives of men – the work of God Himself.  Under the impulse of such thoughts, the nobility of the occupation thrills us and stimulates s to deeds of daring, even at the supreme sacrifice.  Such considerations may not strike the average mind, but they are sufficient to fill to the limit our ambition in life and to make us serve the general purpose of human society.”

*Chief Edward F. Croker, FDNY, circa 1910