Will Jimeno could see a light about 20-30 feet above him.
He was trapped — along with his sergeant and three other police officers — underneath the rubble of building 5.
“At that point, I had determined that if I’m going to die, I’m going to fight ‘til the end,” he said in an interview.
Today marks 24 years since 9/11.
For some people, it is an event of history.
One of my adult children wasn’t even alive when it happened.
The others were just toddlers.
Some of us watched it happen on TV.
Like most other people, I remember exactly where I was:
I was out making sales calls all around Milwaukee, WI for an engineering firm I owned at the time.
I only got bits and pieces of what was going on from talk radio in between my meetings.
As the day went on, the meetings got stranger and stranger.
It was obvious that something BIG had happened.
I didn’t realize just how big it was until I was able to get home and turn on the TV.
I will never forget the horror, anger, and sadness that filled my heart as I sat back and watched what had unfolded.
But let me finish telling you that amazing story about Will Jimeno:
It started like any other day of his career as a police officer.
He kissed his pregnant wife and his daughter goodbye and headed into work.
That’s almost exactly what I had done before I left for all those sales calls that morning.
That day, however, a crackly voice on the radio called Jimeno and his partner back from their patrol to the Port Authority police desk that was located inside building 5 of the World Trade Center (a smaller building right near the towers).
On his way back from patrol, he saw IT:
A big gaping hole in Tower 1 with black smoke billowing out of it.
Jimeno, his sergeant, and three other police officers headed toward the burning building through the underground tunnels of the World Trade Center complex.
En route, they heard and felt a loud BOOM…
Then a slow rumble…
They didn’t know it, but Tower 2 was falling…
…on top of them.
The hallway collapsed around them…
Debris was flying, knocking their equipment off their bodies…
When everything settled, only Jimeno, his sergeant, and one of his fellow police officers were still alive.
Police officers Antonio Rodrigues and Chris Amoroso had been killed by falling debris.
After the three remaining men debated about what their next move was and the remaining police officer tried to free Jimeno…
…they heard another rumble begin, like the sound of a freight train headed their direction.
They still didn’t know what was happening.
It was Tower 1 falling on top of them, too.
This time police officer Dominick Pezzulo was killed by falling debris.
It’s hard to write all this.
Only Jimeno and his sergeant, John McLoughlin, were still alive underneath all the wreckage.
10 hours later, two ex-Marines who were working the rubble that day found Jimeno.
It took them 3 hours to free him.
It took another 8 hours to find and free McLoughlin.
Both men survived. And Jimeno didn’t even have ANY broken bones.
Jimeno and McLoughlin, as far as I can tell, were the last two men pulled alive from the rubble.
Why do I write all this?
Not only to honor Jimeno, McLoughlin, Pezzulo, Rodrigues, and Amoroso…
…but to honor every single first responder who lost their lives that day … or worked to save lives that day.
My organization, the USCCA, focuses on self-defense.
In reality, I have the same goal as every first responder in America:
TO SAVE LIVES.
The education and training that the USCCA provides comes nowhere close to the actual lives that first responders save every day, but…
I like to think that USCCA Members are on the same mission as first responders — even if in a much smaller way.
Whether its new education and training courses, legal preparation, or self-defense gear giveaways, the USCCA is here to save lives.
So to honor the first responders who ran TOWARDS danger and risked their lives to protect their community ... I've picked a very specific item to go to today's gun giveaway winners.
Before I get into the details, I want to say this:
I know that there were a lot of Glocks — 19s and 17s especially — walking around that fateful day 23 years ago.
This gun has a special place in my heart, as it protects so many in our proud nation - both in homes and with our first responders.
We can't give away this many Glocks often, but I'm truly proud any time we do.
And today, I'm honored to say that 11 people will win this iconic firearm that has protected so many in our nation. No purchase necessary to win. See Giveaway Official Rules
And if you win the giveaway and buy a Glock with the check I’ll send you, here’s what I’m hoping:
I hope that every time you stick the webbing of your hand up into the grip of that firearm, you realize that 24 years ago TODAY a Glock like that was riding on the hip of a police officer in New York City while he or she pulled someone from the wreckage, wrapped a bandage around a wounded bystander, or loaded a fallen American into an ambulance.
Somewhere close to that Glock was a firefighter doing the same thing.
Somewhere close there was a paramedic saving someone’s life, too.
Those are the people that I’m thinking of as I look at my Glock today.
I’d like that for you someday soon, too.
Click here to join the USCCA and enter today’s 9/11 Glock giveaway.
