Firefighter's Bagpipe Performances Honor Coronavirus Fighters

FRANKFORT, IL — If you live near the Frankfort Fire Protection District, you may have noticed the sound of bagpipes at sunset on some evenings. While it's not a noise most residents expect to hear in their neighborhood, firefighter/paramedic John Gritsuk has been playing his bagpipes for a "Sunset Solidarity" every night he's been on shift.

Gritsuk joined the Frankfort Fire Protection District in 2007 and is a member of the Band of Brothers Pipes and Drums. Gritsuk serves as vice chairman of the group, which consists of bagpipers and drum players who are members of fire districts in northwest Indiana and the Chicagoland area.

The group's primary purpose is to provide musical support for line-of-duty deaths for firefighters, police and military. However, the group also performs in parades and other events.

Gritsuk said the "Sunset Solidarity" started in Scotland and Ireland, and began as a bagpipe lockdown challenge or "Bagpipes against COVID."

"Each evening, bagpipers go out and play a single tune to mark another day of making it through the pandemic," Gritsuk said. "It's for mourning and grieving, and gratitude for a hopeful tomorrow."

Gritsuk has been performing the Sunset Solidarity for more than a month now, and when he is on shift at the fire station, he plays at work as well.

"When I start, the park nearby will be empty, and by the end, there will be people listening and clapping," Gritsuk said.

Every evening, Gritsuk plays a tune for a minute or two and says he always ends on a positive note by playing "God Bless America" or "America The Beautiful."

"I play for those we have lost and those who battle still, as well as health care workers and frontline workers," Gritsuk said. The idea behind the Sunset Solidarity actually stems from World War II, when bagpipers used to play for troops to raise morale.

Gritsuk began playing the bagpipes in 2007 after he joined the Frankfort department. A firefighter from another department approached him and asked if he wanted to join the Band of Brothers Pipes and Drums.

"I really wanted to play them, since it was such a unique instrument," he said. Gritsuk practiced every day, and within six months, he was playing a full set of bagpipes.

"Anyone can play the bagpipes," he said. "I just had the lung capacity and the stubbornness of a fireman."

Gritsuk said he continues to practice every day, and learns new tunes that he then plays during Sunset Solidarity every evening.