World Trade Center

Five Port Authority police officers knew they needed Scott Airpaks, axes and helmets. It would take work, and time, to help people who could not leave the trade center area on their own. The men stopped long enough, at a storage room, to pick up additional rescue equipment. Near the center of the entire complex, they were twenty feet underground.

They must have known, as all police officers do, that they could become trapped themselves. But did they anticipate how gravely serious their own situation would so quickly become?

Pushing their equipment in a laundry cart, the officers raced to the North Tower. En route, they heard a strange sound - something they had not heard before. Will asked his sergeant whether it could be a “second plane.” Before McLoughlin could answer, the plane slammed into the South Tower. Shock waves from the collision buckled the floor and cracked the walls. The officers needed to run for their lives, but where would they go?

At 9:59 EDT, the South Tower - which had sustained the second strike - was the first to fall. Collapsing in on itself, sending up tremendous clouds of debris resembling volcanic ash, 2 World Trade Center was now completely destroyed.

McLoughlin survived. He told his men to "sound off."

Will Jimeno responded. So did Dominick Pezzulo. Then silence. The falling tower had claimed Antonio Rodrigues and Chris Amoroso.

Working to free himself from the rubble, Pezzulo succeeded. A weight-lifter, he would next help his friend Will. Then the North Tower began to groan. As it crashed in on itself, Dom (who was married and had two children) was no longer able to help Will. The building had crushed him.

"Willy," Dom said. "Don’t forget I died trying to save you guys."