ONE COOL RIDE
Sons of the Signers’ fire truck will be in today’s Annapolis parade
The Annapolis wind whips through the hair of John and Tom Hammond as they ride around town in a 1963 American LaFrance fire truck.
It had been raining so the siren doesn’t work. The transmission grinds a bit, and it takes a few, strong pulls to ring the analog bells attached to the bumper.
Walkers wave as the red and slightly-rusted-but-still-in- driving-shape truck cruises down the road.
“There is nothing better than driving a fire truck down Main Street in your hometown,” Hammond said, who is also the Anne Arundel County budget director. “Especially in a parade.”
Their fire truck will be in the Memorial Day parade on Monday.
The Hammonds are members of the Annapolis Sons of the Signers. Yes, they know the abbreviation. The group is named in honor of Maryland’s four signers of the Declaration of Independence: William Paca, Thomas Stone, Samuel Chase and Charles Carroll. No relation.
The group has been meeting at the Rams Head Tavern for 25 years where they drink together and poke fun at each other. The group’s 16 members participate in charity work and show up to pretty much every parade.
They also continue their weekly beers and drinks together Fridays at the Rams Head Tavern. The crew decided they wanted to do more with their time, so they bought a fire truck for their parade endeavors.
They bought it on eBay for about $5,000 and a trade-in of an older fire truck they owned.
“They are beautiful machines,” said Dick Clow. “And it is a way to give back to the community.”
Clow is the group mechanic and he helps keep the fire truck in tip-top shape. He owns four fire engines and is helping restore an old, horse-drawn steam boiler that is nestled in a large garage he built himself off Chinquapin Round Road. The old vehicle is destined to be on display at the Naval Academy.
While parading, the group will partner with other organizations such as the Wounded Warrior Project, who sometimes ride with the Sons of the Signers. They also have a marching band: The Annapolis Sons of the Signers Marching Band, which is led by Hammond’s song Kemp Hammond. It includes Kemp’s fellow high school graduating classmates John and Eric Sellman, Andy Rogers and Maurice Taylor.
How did the group grow into such a staple of the parade scene?
“It was a little bit of fun that got out of hand,” Clow said.
Next year Hammond and other members plan to drive their fire truck across country. They want to take the truck back to its homeland in Jerome, Idaho, where the truck originally operated.
A dark green Idaho license plate adorns the truck’s front end. Jerome has a population of about 11,000 and is the county seat of Jerome County.
From there he will travel across the country, weaving his way to California and back to Maryland.
Ever the budget officer, Hammond has calculated the trip will cost about $7,500 in gas. The truck gets about four miles to the gallon. He plans to place two of the truck’s tires in the Pacific Ocean and the other two in the Atlantic Ocean.
The group — who recently gathered outside Hammond’s home on Monticello Avenue — teased him about the trip. Several of them wore white polos emblazoned with “Annapolis Sons of the Signers.”
“I’ll follow you to about as far as Allegany County,” said Rex Caldwell III, an Annapolis attorney.
His friends laughed.