Fire truck in service for 23+ years

Joe Farrell, former Hannibal firefighter, remembers when this old truck was in service on Hannibal's South Side. Joe said that the early fire engines didn't have windshields. "Cleo Kennedy was handy and he built windshields on all the old trucks." Before windshields, "the wind hit us right in the face." Joe joined the department as a "sleeper" in June 1939. He served before he was drafted for World War II, and returned three years later. He eventually left and went to work on mail train cars for the post office.