The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, dealt a devastating blow to the nation. Yet amidst the horrific destruction at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, an extraordinary counter-narrative immediately took shape: ordinary people stepping up to save lives. While history often highlights official leaders and famous events, the historical record shows that the vast majority of early evacuations, rescues, and relief efforts were carried out by everyday civilians, office workers, and off-duty first responders acting on their own initiative.
The common call to “be the people we were on 9/12” is rooted in the remarkable acts of selflessness witnessed during the attacks and the days that followed. Between September 11 and September 18, private citizens built spontaneous networks to provide medical triage, clear heavy rubble, offer counseling, and deliver supplies, frequently working well ahead of, and alongside, government agencies.
World Trade Center Evacuations: Civilian Initiative and Moral Obligation
When American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower (1 WTC) at 8:46 AM and United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower (2 WTC) at 9:03 AM, normal escape routes were suddenly cut off. Fire suppression systems failed, stairwells collapsed, and elevator shafts turned into fiery chimneys. In this harrowing environment, people trapped in and below the impact zones risked everything to lead miraculous rescue missions.
The Port Authority 88th Floor Maintenance Crew
On the 88th floor of the North Tower, just below where Flight 11 hit, Port Authority construction superintendent and U.S. Navy veteran Pablo Ortiz, construction manager Francis “Frank” De Martini, and colleagues Peter Negron, Carlos da Costa, and Mak Hanna were gathering for morning coffee1. The crash jammed doors and warped building frames, trapping dozens of people on the 88th and 89th floors1.
Instead of fleeing, De Martini and Ortiz assembled a makeshift rescue team armed with pry bars, flashlights, and hand tools2. They located and forced open the only usable escape route, Stairwell A1. After clearing fallen drywall and rubble, they guided roughly 25 to 40 workers down the stairs, including De Martini’s wife, Nicole, and severely burned employee Elaine Duch1.
Ortiz and De Martini then headed back up toward the crash site1. Breaching jammed doors, they freed MetLife employees on the 89th floor, including Dianne DeFontes and Rick Bryan4. Climbing to the 90th floor, they rescued Richard Eichen, Christopher Egan, Lucy Gonzalez, and Anne Prosser. On the 91st floor, they freed 18 trapped corporate and electrical workers, including Anthony Segarra, Anthony Vangeli, and Michael McQuade1.
Blocked by heavy destruction at the 92nd floor, the group turned back down, forcing open stuck doors on the 86th floor and reaching the 78th-floor skylobby to free Port Authority employee Anthony Savas from a stalled elevator3.
Shortly before the final collapse, De Martini told Mak Hanna to help 89-year-old Moses Lipson down the stairs, a directive that saved Hanna’s life1. Ortiz, De Martini, Negron, and da Costa stayed behind, continuing to pry open elevator doors and guide evacuees1. All four perished when the North Tower collapsed at 10:28 AM1. Their selfless actions saved an estimated 50 to 77 lives1.
The Squeegee Evacuation of Car 69
Inside express elevator car 69 bound for the 70th floor of the North Tower, window washer Jan Demczur was riding with five office workers, including regional transit administrator Al Smith and passenger Shivam Iyer7. The elevator plunged abruptly before emergency brakes stopped it near the 50th floor, leaving the cab filling with smoke and cut off from communication7.
Prying open the doors, the passengers found themselves facing the shaft wall made of thick, fireproof drywall7. Without proper tools, the men took turns using a pocketknife to carve through the wall7. When the knife slipped from Demczur’s sweaty hands and fell down the shaft, he pulled an eight-inch brass squeegee from his cleaning bucket7.
Working in turns in sweltering heat, the six men used the brass squeegee frame to chip away at the dense wall7. They eventually carved an 18-by-20-inch opening into a 50th-floor restroom beneath a sink. Joining the evacuees in the stairwell, they escaped into the street at 10:23 AM, just five minutes before the tower collapsed7. The squeegee handle was later donated to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History as an icon of resourcefulness under pressure7.
The Covenant on Stairwell B: Harry Ramos and Victor Wald
The evacuation of the North Tower also revealed remarkable bonds formed among strangers. Harry Ramos, a 46-year-old head trader at the May Davis Group on the 87th floor, led his colleagues safely down Stairwell B9. Near the 53rd floor, Ramos and coworker Hong Zhu found Victor Wald, a stockbroker who had collapsed from exhaustion due to childhood rheumatic fever9.
Although passing evacuees urged Ramos to save himself, he refused, promising Wald, “I won’t leave you”9. Ramos and Zhu helped drag Wald down 17 flights until Wald could no longer walk at the 36th floor9. As conditions grew dire and responders ordered everyone out, Zhu was urged ahead. Ramos sat on the landing with Wald, keeping him company until the tower collapsed9. Today, their names are inscribed side by side at the National September 11 Memorial9.
The Bond of Loyalty: Abraham Zelmanowitz and Edward Beyea
On the 27th floor of the North Tower, programmers Edward “Ed” Beyea and Abraham “Abe” Zelmanowitz were close colleagues at Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield11. Beyea was a quadriplegic who used a wheelchair and operated his computer with a mouth stick12. Over 12 years of working together, the two had developed a deep friendship12.
When the plane hit, the elevators immediately shut down, and standard evacuation chairs could not support Beyea13. When Beyea’s aide, Irma Fuller, arrived to help, Zelmanowitz insisted she evacuate to safety, promising he would stay with Beyea until emergency personnel arrived12. As coworkers flooded past, Zelmanowitz sat faithfully by his friend11.
FDNY Captain William F. Burke Jr. reached the 27th floor later during the evacuation14. Realizing the South Tower had already fallen and the North Tower was about to collapse, Captain Burke ordered his firefighters to leave immediately while choosing to stay behind with Zelmanowitz and Beyea14. All three men lost their lives when the tower fell14.
Physical Extraction: Michael Benfante and John Cerqueira
On the 81st floor of the North Tower, telecommunications manager Michael Benfante and sales representative John Cerqueira began heading down the stairs. On the 68th floor, they met Tina Hansen, a Port Authority supervisor with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis who was unable to navigate the stairs in her motorized wheelchair.
Finding a lightweight evacuation chair in an office closet, Benfante and Cerqueira strapped Hansen in and carried her down by hand. Over 75 grueling minutes, they navigated 68 flights of concrete stairs through smoke and ankle-deep water, delivering Hansen to an ambulance outside just minutes before the building fell.
The Protective Ethic of Benjamin Keefe Clark
In the South Tower, chef Benjamin Keefe Clark, a Gulf War Marine veteran, was managing food operations on the 96th floor. After the initial crash on the North Tower, Clark swept the floor, ensuring employees and contractors evacuated safely.
Instead of leaving, Clark went down to assist others who needed help. He was last seen on the 78th floor trying to carry a woman in a wheelchair down the stairwell. Clark died when the South Tower collapsed at 9:59 AM.
| Rescuer(s) | Primary Occupation | Complex Location | Operational Intervention | Documented Impact |
| Pablo Ortiz, Frank De Martini, Peter Negron, Carlos da Costa | Port Authority Facilities Staff / U.S. Navy Veteran | Floors 88–91, North Tower | Breached jammed doors, dismantled drywall, and cleared debris in Stairwell A1. | Rescued 50–77 trapped office and maintenance workers; sacrificed lives1. |
| Jan Demczur | Commercial Window Washer | Express Elevator Car 69 (Fl. 50), North Tower | Utilized a passenger pocketknife and brass squeegee frame/handle to cut through multiple layers of fireproof drywall into a restroom7. | Saved 6 occupants trapped inside a falling elevator7. |
| Harry Ramos | Head Investment Trader (May Davis Group) | Floors 87–36, North Tower | Refused to evacuate; supported exhausted stranger Victor Wald down 17 flights9. | Remained with Wald; preserved human dignity to the point of structural collapse9. |
| Abraham Zelmanowitz | Computer Programmer (Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield) | Floor 27, North Tower | Refused evacuation to remain with quadriplegic coworker Edward Beyea and FDNY Capt. William F. Burke Jr.11. | Upheld human dignity and companionship; enabled Beyea’s aide to evacuate to safety12. |
| Michael Benfante & John Cerqueira | Telecommunications Executives | Floors 81–Ground, North Tower | Secured Tina Hansen into an evacuation rig; carried her down 68 flights of stairs. | Extricated a mobility-impaired civilian to safety 5 minutes prior to collapse. |
| Benjamin Keefe Clark | Executive Chef (Fiduciary Trust / Sodexo) | Floors 96 & 78, South Tower | Cleared culinary staff and corporate floors; delayed escape to lift a wheelchair user. | Guided hundreds to safety; perished while attempting final rescue on the lower floor. |
The Pentagon: Valor in the Cleaved Rings
At 9:37 AM, American Airlines Flight 77 struck the western side of the Pentagon, cutting power, communications, and water lines while igniting jet fuel across three rings of the building. The interior instantly turned into a dark maze of smoke, intense heat, and fire. In the middle of this chaos, service members and staff immediately began rescue efforts.
The Structural Lift in the Navy Command Center
The impact devastated the Navy Command Center, killing 28 people instantly. Trapped under a fallen ceiling beam and twisted metal was civilian director Jerry Henson.
Lieutenant Commander Dr. David Tarantino, a Navy doctor, and Captain David M. Thomas Jr. crawled through a small hole in the wall made by the plane’s landing gear. Navigating loose wires and intense heat with flashlights, they located Henson in the wreckage.
With Henson pinned to his chair, Tarantino lay on his back under the beam and used his legs to push the heavy debris up a few inches. Captain Thomas wedged his shoulder beneath it to hold it steady while Henson wiggled free and crawled out to safety with the help of Navy SEAL Commander Craig Powell. Tarantino treated Henson immediately with oxygen and an IV.
Acoustic Extractions and Triage Reinforcement
Thick smoke from burning jet fuel blinded everyone in the hallways, making audio signals vital for finding the way out.
Army cook and former Ranger Staff Sergeant Christopher Braman ran straight toward the fire. In a nearby office, civilian Sheila Moody was trapped behind flames and unable to shout due to smoke inhalation. She began clapping rhythmically. Braman heard the clapping, crawled under the heat, found Moody, and carried her out to safety.
Braman re-entered the fire alongside Lieutenant Colonel Ted Anderson, who had already pulled two people through a shattered window. Seeing a man running with his clothes on fire, Anderson tackled him, extinguished the flames, and carried him outside. When firefighters prevented Anderson from going back in a third time, he insisted, “To me, this was the battlefield. You don’t leave your comrades on the battlefield.” Braman remained on-site for 60 straight hours helping with recovery efforts.
At the same time, Defense Protective Service Officer Isaac Ho’opi’i entered the pitch-black building. Realizing people couldn’t see the exits, Ho’opi’i shouted repeatedly: “Come towards my voice!” Guided by his booming call, groups of disoriented workers followed his voice to safety outdoors.
Outside, Specialist Beau Doboszenski, an Army tour guide and volunteer EMT, rushed to the scene15. He helped organize an emergency triage area in the parking lot, performed life-saving airway procedures, and assisted in evacuating burn victims15. Doboszenski then joined a search team that ventured back into the flooded, burning corridors looking for survivors15.
| Personnel | Service / Agency | Action Profile | Extraction / Medical Result |
| Lt. Cmdr. Dr. David Tarantino & Capt. David Thomas Jr. | U.S. Navy Medical Corps / Naval Operations | Crawled through aircraft impact breach into the C Ring; Tarantino executed a physical leg-press lift of a structural beam. | Extricated civilian director Jerry Henson from beneath crushing debris and initiated triage. |
| Staff Sgt. Christopher Braman | U.S. Army (Pentagon Mess / Ranger) | Navigated burning Resource Services offices; used acoustic tracking to locate trapped workers. | Rescued Sheila Moody; served 60 straight hours recovering casualties and remains. |
| Lt. Col. Ted Anderson | U.S. Army (Legislative Liaison) | Breached windows, kicked through interior doors; tackled and smothered flames on a burning civilian. | Rescued four injured personnel and treated casualties at the rally zone for the helicopter pad. |
| Officer Isaac Ho’opi’i | Defense Protective Service (Canine Unit) | Advanced deep into smoke-choked corridors without breathing apparatus; utilized vocal beacon tactics. | Led dozens of disoriented, blinded office workers out of lethal thermal zones. |
| Spc. Beau Doboszenski | U.S. Army / Pentagon Tour Guide | Bypassed highway blockades to reach the impact zone; reinforced North Parking medical triage; executed internal search15. | Assisted emergency field intubation; helped load 20 burn victims for transport; searched flooded ruins15. |
Subterranean Extraction at Ground Zero: The Rescue of Jimeno, McLoughlin, and Guzman-McMillan
By the afternoon of September 11, Ground Zero was a smoldering, 16-acre mountain of dangerous rubble known as “the Pile.” Official rescue efforts were severely limited by unstable wreckage. Out of nearly 3,000 victims, only 20 people were pulled alive from the debris16.
The Extraction of Jimeno and McLoughlin
Among those survivors were Port Authority Police Officers Will Jimeno and Sergeant John McLoughlin, trapped 30 feet underground under collapsed concrete17. They were discovered by an unlikely volunteer search pair17.
Staff Sergeant David Karnes, an accountant and Marine veteran, saw the attacks on TV, put on his military uniform, grabbed gear, and drove straight to Manhattan.
At the site, Karnes met Sergeant Jason Thomas, another Marine veteran who had also put on his uniform and rushed to help.
Armed only with flashlights and an entrenching shovel, the two Marines climbed across the twisted steel. At dusk, they shouted into gaps in the rubble: “United States Marines! Can anyone hear us?” Eventually, they heard Jimeno shouting back from deep below. Karnes signaled for medical teams while Thomas worked to locate an entry point.
The hole leading to Jimeno and McLoughlin was a dangerous 30-foot vertical shaft choked with rebar and hot spots. Chuck Sereika, a former paramedic who had walked to Ground Zero to help, ignored warnings and squeezed down into the dark opening.
Crawl-space conditions made standing impossible, but Sereika dug debris away from Jimeno’s chest with his bare hands. Even when nearby fires ignited ammunition on Jimeno’s belt, Sereika stayed, administering oxygen and an IV for three hours until NYPD rescue teams arrived with heavy machinery.
Jimeno was freed after 13 hours; McLoughlin was pulled out after 22 hours17. Exhausted, Sereika slipped away quietly afterward without asking for praise, and Thomas returned home, his role unacknowledged until years later.
The Final Extraction: Genelle Guzman-McMillan
The rescue of Genelle Guzman-McMillan on September 12 highlighted the critical teamwork between search dogs and rescue crews16. Guzman-McMillan, a Port Authority employee on the 64th floor of the North Tower, was evacuating near the 13th floor when the building collapsed18.
Trapped under concrete for 27 hours, she remained conscious in the dark18. Her location was detected when Trakr, a German Shepherd handled by volunteer officer James Symington, signaled a “live hit” over a gap in the debris16.
As workers dug, Guzman-McMillan reached her hand through a crack in the concrete18. Firefighter Paul Somin held her hand and comforted her while crews worked through the night to cut her free18. She became the 20th and final living survivor pulled from Ground Zero16.
The Seven Days of Solidarity: Grassroots Logistics and Civil Defense (Sept 12–18)
With key city response centers destroyed and communications knocked out, private citizens, union workers, and local businesses stepped in to build a grassroots support system in the days following the attack.
Commercial Mobilization: Nino’s American Kitchen
Just north of Ground Zero, Antonio “Nino” Vendome turned his family restaurant, Nino’s, into a 24/7 relief center for responders, serving hot meals, offering clean clothes, and organizing thousands of volunteers over the next seven months.
Over the next week and throughout the following seven months, Nino’s remained open around the clock, serving up to 7,000 hot meals a day to rescue workers, canine handlers, and police officers. Vendome formed Nino’s 9/11 Fund, coordinating over 10,000 volunteers who prepared food and covered the walls with letters of support from across the country.
Vendome’s mother, Giuseppa (“Mama”) Vendome, worked in the kitchen daily, cooking and offering motherly warmth to weary workers. In gratitude, responders gave her uniform patches, which she lovingly stitched onto aprons to display behind the counter.
Sanctuary on the Perimeter: St. Paul’s Chapel
Across from the Trade Center, historic St. Paul’s Chapel survived the collapse without a broken window. Reverend Lyndon Harris opened its doors immediately, transforming the sanctuary into a haven for workers where pews became beds and volunteers offered podiatric care, massages, and mental health counseling.
Over the next week, Harris and volunteers turned the chapel into a 24-hour respite station. The wooden pews where George Washington once sat were lined with cushions to serve as cots for exhausted rescuers.
By September 14, volunteer podiatrists arrived to care for the blistered feet of ironworkers and responders. The chapel also arranged chiropractic care, massage therapy, and grief counseling, creating a vital sanctuary steps from the rubble.
Medical Mobilization: The Field Citadel at Chelsea Piers
At Chelsea Piers, doctors and nurses quickly constructed a 26-station field hospital. When it became clear few survivors were coming, they shifted seamlessly to treating recovery workers for eye injuries, smoke inhalation, and exhaustion24.
Without waiting for official instructions, volunteer doctors and nurses gathered at the piers, converting the sports complex into a fully equipped emergency hospital with trauma bays and surgical supplies.
As the need shifted, the field hospital functioned as an around-the-clock clinic for Ground Zero workers, treating firefighters, ironworkers, and dog handlers for eye abrasions, respiratory issues, and exhaustion24.
Subterranean Containment: MTA Transit Workers
Underground, MTA transit workers acted heroically: dispatchers halted trains immediately after impact, evacuating thousands of passengers so effectively that not a single life was lost in the subway system on 9/11.
MTA controllers moved instantly to halt express trains and reroute locals away from the World Trade Center loop. Train operators made clear announcements, evacuating thousands of commuters safely before the towers collapsed. Remarkably, not a single civilian or transit worker died in the subway system on September 11.
By that afternoon, off-duty MTA crews returned voluntarily to inspect lines and restore service, getting 65% of the subway system running again by nightfall to help evacuate Manhattan.
The Structural Force: Local 40, Local 361, and Mohawk Ironworkers
Union ironworkers, including Native American Mohawk crews whose ancestors had helped build the Trade Center, arrived with cutting torches to slice through massive steel beams so search teams could access lower levels.
Among them were Mohawk ironworkers from Quebec and New York, descendants of the crews who built the original Twin Towers. Working amidst hot metal, they cut massive 50-ton girders into manageable pieces so rescue teams could search subterranean voids.
The Human Chain: The Bucket Brigades and Canine Search Units
On “the Pile,” volunteers formed human bucket lines to move debris by hand. Strict silence protocols were used: a single whistle blast silenced all heavy equipment so listening teams could hear trapped survivors tapping below.
Work was carefully organized around acoustic protocols. A single air whistle blast commanded total silence, instantly shutting off heavy generators and cranes so listening teams could hear faint tapping from below. Two blasts signaled work could resume, while three ordered an immediate evacuation if adjacent buildings shifted.
Search dogs worked tirelessly alongside responders. To prevent the dogs from getting discouraged when no living survivors were found, handlers staged mock rescues, hiding in safe spots so the dogs could experience a successful find and maintain their spirits24.
| Organization / Initiative | Operational Base | Function / Activity | Documented Impact (Sept 12–18, 2001) |
| Nino’s Restaurant (Vendome Family) | 431 Canal Street, Lower Manhattan | Conversion of commercial kitchen into 24/7 relief staging station. | Distributed 7,000 hot meals daily; mobilized 10,000 community volunteers. |
| St. Paul’s Chapel (Rev. Lyndon Harris) | Broadway & Fulton Street | Repurposed historic 1766 church into sanctuary and recovery respite center. | Provided round-the-clock sleeping bunks, podiatric medical care, and trauma counseling. |
| Chelsea Piers Field Trauma Center (NYU Downtown & Volunteers) | Pier 62 / Hudson River (23rd Street) | Rapid conversion of sports complex into a 26-station triage and surgical field hospital. | Mobilized hundreds of volunteer clinicians; treated Ground Zero recovery workers 24/7 for a week. |
| MTA New York City Transit | Lower Manhattan Rail Control Center | Rapid platform evacuations, tunnel integrity checks, structural re-routing. | Zero subway casualties; restored 65% of regional transit by nightfall on 9/11. |
| Ironworkers Local 40 & 361 / Mohawk Ironworkers | Ground Zero Debris Perimeter | Manual thermal cutting of 50-ton entangled structural steel girders. | Stabilized shifting crane access paths; penetrated subsurface debris voids. |
| Civilian Bucket Brigades & US&R Dog Units | World Trade Center Footprint (“The Pile”) | Shoulder-to-shoulder manual clearing using acoustic whistle silence protocols. | Prevented void collapses during hand excavation; maintained canine search drive via mock finds24. |
Reclaiming the Ethic of September 12
The events of September 11 to September 18 show that in times of extreme crisis, official responses rely heavily on the courage and initiative of ordinary citizens. While history books often focus on high-level decisions, real rescue work was driven by people on the ground improvising with whatever tools they had, a squeegee, a shovel, or their own strength, to save others.
The brave choices of individuals like Frank De Martini, Pablo Ortiz, Harry Ramos, Abraham Zelmanowitz, and Benjamin Clark to stay behind in burning buildings show that true duty is self-imposed. In every case, they chose the safety of others over their own survival.
The immediate recovery effort proved that community solidarity is a powerful force. Well before major relief agencies arrived, local restaurants, churches, subway crews, medical staff, and labor unions built a resilient network of mutual support.
The goal to “be the people we were on 9/12” captures a simple truth: when systems broke down, ordinary people showed an extraordinary capacity for empathy, courage, and unity in caring for one another.
The author and his family would like to send prayers to everyone who was involved. If there is a way you can help the survivors and remember the victims, please do.
Sources Used
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