SEPTEMBER 2023:

Directed by Oliver Stone, Written by Andrea Berloff, Produced by Moritz Borman, Debra Hill, Michael Shamberg, and Stacey Sher, Starring: Nicolas Cage, Michael Peña, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, Stephen Dorff, Jay Hernandez, Michael Shannon, Jon Bernthal, with Cinematography by Seamus McGarvey, and Edited by David Brenner, and Julie Monroe, with Music by Craig Armstrong, Production companies: Double Feature Films, Intermedia Films, Ixtlan, and Kernos Filmproduktionsgesellschaft & Company, Distributed by Paramount Pictures (2006) — *World Trade Center* (2006)

HEROES DON’T ALWAYS WEAR CAPES…

On September 11, 2001, members of the Port Authority Police (PAPD) were dispatched to Downtown Manhattan in response to the North Tower of the World Trade Center (WTC) having been hit by a plane at 8:46 a.m. While En route to the response call, the officers learn at 9:03, that the South Tower also has been hit by another plane. Sergeant John McLoughlin, who is a veteran of the first WTC attack, the 1993 bombing, decides to assemble a group of volunteer officers to retrieve rescue equipment from Building 5 of the WTC to assist the other NYPD and FDNY in evacuating the North Tower. The volunteers included: Officers Antonio Rodrigues, William Jimeno, Christopher Amoroso, and Dominick Pezzulo.

The opening scene in "World Trade Center" (2006) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

(L to R) Nicolas Cage in "World Trade Center" (2006) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

(L to R) Nicolas Cage, and Jude Ciccolella in "World Trade Center" (2006) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

The first impact was that of American Airlines Flight 11, which ringleader Mohamed Atta flew into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan at 8:46 a.m. Photo Credit: Associated Press

A scene in "World Trade Center" (2006) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

At 9:03, the World Trade Center's South Tower was hit by United Airlines Flight 175. Photo Credit: Associated Press

John McLoughlin (born June 6, 1953) is one of two Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police officers who survived after being trapped under the rubble of the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks. His rescue and that of William Jimeno are later the subject of Oliver Stone's film World Trade Center in 2006, in which McLoughlin was portrayed by actor Nicolas Cage. McLoughlin graduated from the State University of New York at Oswego, where he was a member of the Sigma Tau Chi fraternity. Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack carried out on February 26, 1993, when a van bomb detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. The 1,336 lb (606 kg) urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to send the North Tower crashing into its twin, the South Tower, taking down both skyscrapers and killing tens of thousands of people. While it failed to do so, it killed six people, including a pregnant woman, and caused over a thousand injuries. About 50,000 people were evacuated from the buildings that day. The attack was planned by a group of terrorists including Ramzi Yousef, Mahmud Abouhalima, Mohammad A. Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Abdul Rahman Yasin, and Ahmed Ajaj. In March 1994, four men were convicted of carrying out the bombing: Abouhalima, Ajaj, Ayyad, and Salameh. The charges included conspiracy, explosive destruction of property, and interstate transportation of explosives. In November 1997, two more were convicted: Ramzi Yousef, the organizer behind the bombings, and Eyad Ismoil, who drove the van carrying the bomb. Emad Salem, an FBI informant and a key witness in the trial of Ramzi Yousef, Abdul Hakim Murad, and Wali Khan Amin Shah, stated that the bomb itself was built under supervision from the FBI. During his time as an FBI informant, Salem recorded hours of telephone conversations with his FBI handlers. In tapes made after the bombing, Salem alleged that an unnamed FBI supervisor declined to move forward on a plan that would have used a "phony powder" to fool the conspirators into believing that they were working with genuine explosives. Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons

(L to R) Nicolas Cage, Danny Nucci, Michael Peña, and Armando Riesco in "World Trade Center" (2006) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

The Concourse and B-Levels in the original World Trade Center before its collapse. Photo Credit: SkyscraperCity.com

Armando Riesco as Officer Antonio Rodrigues in "World Trade Center" (2006) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

Officer Antonio Rodrigues was killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks while attempting to rescue the victims trapped in the World Trade Center. Officer Rodrigues had served with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department for one year. He is survived by his wife and two children. Photo Credit: Port Authority Benevolent Association

William J. Jimeno (born November 26, 1967) is a Colombian-American author and retired Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department officer who survived the September 11 attacks in 2001. He was buried under the rubble for a total of 18 hours, but survived, along with fellow Port Authority officer John McLoughlin. He has written two books regarding the experience. Jimeno was born in 1967 in Colombia but immigrated to New York City as a boy with his family. Photo Credit: Associated Press

Michael Peña as Officer Will Jimeno in "World Trade Center" (2006) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

Officer Christopher Amoroso, twenty-nine, a Port Authority officer who was trained in special tactics and fire control, played an active role in the rescue effort at the World Trade Center. After leading a number of people to safety from the lower levels, he collected oxygen packs and hard hats and was last seen entering the North Tower. Officer Amoroso was born in Rockville Center, New York, but grew up in North Bergen, New Jersey. He had four brothers and two sisters. He attended St. John’s University, then worked for Consolidated Dairies as a route manager until entering the Port Authority Police Academy in August 1999. He graduated in January 2000. According to his father, he had waited five and a half years to get into the academy. A fan of the New York Yankees, Amoroso enjoyed playing hockey, football and baseball. He was also fascinated by history, and two of his favorite activities were playing with his daughter, Sophia Rose, and watching the History Channel. He and his wife, Jaime, lived in Huguenot on Staten Island. On November 28, 2001, Amoroso and another Port Authority officer who died in the World Trade Center attack, Lt. Robert Cirri, were honored by their alma mater, North Bergen High School. Amoroso graduated in 1990 and Cirri in 1980. The sixteen American flags that hung in front of the school were each given to family members after the service. The flagpole was adorned with red, white and blue ribbons. Etched into a small stone monument at the base of the flagpole are an American flag, the Twin Towers, the names of Amoroso and Cirri, their years of graduation, a dedication to all who suffered from the attack, and the following inscription: “In memory of the North Bergen High School graduates who perished in the line of duty at the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001.” Photo Credit: Port Authority Benevolent Association

Jon Bernthal as Officer Christopher Amoroso in "World Trade Center" (2006) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

Dominick A. Pezzulo (August 15, 1965 – September 11, 2001) was an Italian American Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department (PAPD) officer who died in the September 11 attacks in lower Manhattan, New York City in 2001. In the early morning of September 11, he volunteered to assist PAPD Sergeant John McLoughlin with the rescue effort in the first World Trade Center building along with Officer Will Jimeno. After a brief overlook of the common area the floor shook as the South Tower collapsed just 56 minutes after being struck by United Airlines Flight 175. With only ten seconds defining the collapse from 110 floors to Ground Zero the men dashed for the elevator shaft. Only Pezzulo, McLoughlin and Jimeno would survive the initial hit. As he struggled to lift debris from Officer Jimeno, the North Tower collapsed, causing more rubble, concrete, steel and ash to fall on the already existing pile of rubble formed by the collapse of the South Tower. Pezzulo was pinned, and in an effort to alert rescuers to their whereabouts, he fired a single shot into the air before dying. He was portrayed in the Oliver Stone movie World Trade Center by Jay Hernandez. Photo Credit: Port Authority Benevolent Association

Jay Hernandez as Officer Dominick Pezzulo in "World Trade Center" (2006) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

As the group of officers is preparing to enter the North Tower from the main concourse between the two towers, the South Tower begins to collapse onto them, and McLoughlin realizes the only chance at survival the men have is to take shelter in the nearby freight elevator shaft. Officers Antonio Rodrigues and Christopher Amoroso were killed immediately. McLoughlin, Jimeno, and Pezzulo are the only survivors, after being buried in the ensuing collapse of the concourse, and beneath the rubble of what once was two of the world’s five tallest buildings, the Twin Towers of the WTC. The North Tower would also collapse onto them while trapped, and the collapse of the Twin Towers would take out the remaining WTC buildings and damaged buildings in the area, this area in the future would become known as “Ground Zero.”

(L to R) Nicolas Cage, Armando Riesco, Jay Hernandez, and Michael Peña, in "World Trade Center" (2006) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

As the fires continued to burn, occupants trapped in the upper floors of the South Tower provided information about conditions to 9-1-1 dispatchers. At 9:37 a.m., an occupant on the 105th floor of the South Tower reported that floors beneath him "in the 90-something floor" had collapsed. The New York City Police Department aviation unit also relayed information about the deteriorating condition of the buildings to police commanders. At 9:51 a.m., seven minutes before the collapse, the NYPD aviation unit reported that large pieces of debris were hanging or falling from the South Tower. The implied threat of an imminent collapse was sufficient for the NYPD to order its officers to evacuate, although none of the helicopter pilots specifically predicted that either tower would fall. During the emergency response, there was little communication between the NYPD and the FDNY, and overwhelmed 9-1-1 dispatchers did not pass along information to FDNY commanders at the scene. At 9:59 a.m., the South Tower collapsed, 56 minutes after Flight 175 crashed into it. Before the South Tower collapsed, 18 people escaped from the impact zone and the floors above, including Stanley Praimnath, who had seen the plane coming at him. They made it out via Stairwell A, the only stairway left intact after the crash. There may have been other previously trapped occupants who were descending from the impact zone when the tower collapsed. Numerous police hotline operators who received calls from people in the South Tower were not well informed of the situation as it rapidly unfolded. Many operators told callers not to descend on their own, even though it is now believed that Stairwell A was probably passable at and above the point of impact. Photo Credit: Goggle Images

Nicolas Cage as Sergeant John McLoughlin in "World Trade Center" (2006) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

New York, NY, September 27, 2001 -- The remaining section of the World Trade Center is surrounded by a mountain of rubble following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Photo by Bri Rodriguez/ FEMA News Photo

Arial view of WTC in March of 2001, seven months before they would disappear from the New York skyline. Photo Credit: Google Images

The South Tower's collapse shattered windows and damaged other exterior elements along the North Tower's southern and eastern facades, although this was insufficient to cause its subsequent collapse. After the South Tower fell, NYPD helicopters relayed information about the deteriorating conditions of the North Tower, while FDNY commanders issued orders for firefighters in the North Tower to evacuate. Poor radio reception meant firefighters inside the North Tower did not hear the evacuation order from their supervisors on the scene, and most were unaware that the other tower had collapsed. An NYPD officer said at 10:06 a.m. that the North Tower was not going to last much longer and recommended that emergency vehicles be pulled away from the complex. At 10:20 a.m., the NYPD aviation unit reported that "the top of the tower might be leaning", and a minute later confirmed that the North Tower was buckling on the southwest corner and leaning to the south, prompting an officer to begin urging all NYPD personnel in the building's vicinity to retreat at least three blocks in every direction. The aviation unit declared at 10:27 "the roof is going to come down very shortly"; this proved correct less than a minute later, when the North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m., one hour and 42 minutes after being struck. Because all escape routes from the impact zone, above it, and immediately below it were severed when Flight 11 crashed, no one above the 91st floor survived. The collapsing towers generated enormous clouds of dust and debris, which enveloped lower Manhattan; light dust reached as far as the Empire State Building, 2.93 mi (4.72 km) away. The debris cloud from the North Tower collapse was also larger and more widespread than that of the South Tower, because the collapse of the North also kicked up dust from the South Tower. Photo Credit: Google Images

The World Trade Center site, often referred to as "Ground Zero" or "the Pile" immediately after the September 11 attacks, is a 14.6-acre (5.9 ha) area in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The site is bounded by Vesey Street to the north, the West Side Highway to the west, Liberty Street to the south, and Church Street to the east. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) owns the site's land (except for 7 World Trade Center). The original World Trade Center complex stood on the site until it was destroyed in the September 11 attacks. The Port Authority, Silverstein Properties, and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) have overseen the reconstruction of the site as part of the new World Trade Center, following a master plan by Studio Daniel Libeskind. Developer Larry Silverstein holds the lease to retail and office space in four of the site's buildings. Photo Credit: Google Images

At some point in being buried amongst the rubble of the towers, jet fuel from the planes, and souls of the dead, with the rest of the WTC collapsing around them solidifying their demise, McLoughlin and Jimeno manage to survive without further harm. Officer Pezzulo was mortally wounded within minutes when the North Tower collapsed from shifting debris that crushed his torso. McLoughlin and Jimeno were only finally rescued when the former U.S. Marine Corps sergeant Jason Thomas and staff sergeant Dave Karnes heard their cries for help almost ten hours after they were initially buried underneath the concourse of the WTC.

(L to R) Michael Peña as Officer Will Jimeno, the real Officer Will Jimeno (Ret), the real Sergeant John McLoughlin (Ret), and Nicolas Cage as Sergeant John McLoughlin in a promotional photo for the Oliver Stone film, "World Trade Center" (2006)

Jason Thomas (born July 4, 1974) is a United States Marine who located and rescued people in the aftermath of collapse of the World Trade Center in New York City after the September 11 attacks in 2001. With fellow U.S. Marine David Karnes, he helped find a pair of Port Authority Police officers buried in the rubble of the World Trade Center. Photo Credit: Google Images

David W. Karnes (born December 12, 1958) is a United States Marine, who with fellow U.S. Marine Jason Thomas located and helped rescue two police officers of the Port Authority Police Department trapped in the rubble from the September 11 attacks after the collapse of the World Trade Center in 2001. Photo Credit: Google Images

(L to R) William Mapathor, and Michael Shannon in "World Trade Center" (2006) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

It would still be hours from the time McLoughlin and Jimeno were heard before they ever saw the light of day, it would be 13 hours before Will Jimeno saw the light of search and rescue personnel and smelled the smoke from the burning fallen towers, but it would be 22 hours before McLoughlin would be brought to the light of day. McLoughlin was gravely injured in the collapse, and for his survival, doctors kept him in an induced coma for six weeks. He underwent 27 surgeries and spent nearly three months in the hospital and rehabilitation.

(L to R) Stephen Dorff, and Michael Peña, in "World Trade Center" (2006) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

(L to R) Nicolas Cage, and Michael Peña, in "World Trade Center" (2006) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

Four months after their rescue, McLoughlin and Jimeno, who are both now retired from the PAPD, took part in a ceremony at Ground Zero to watch as the final column was removed, it was placed into a warehouse holding 9/11 debris for a few years, and then later moved to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum built at Ground Zero, when all the uniformed officers walked out of The Pit for the very last time, the two of them were the last to leave.

The column was cut down and removed from the site in two ceremonies that marked the completion of the recovery period at Ground Zero. On the evening of May 28, 2002, trade union members cut the Last Column from its footing in a private ceremony held by and for recovery and relief workers. Workers then laid the column, shrouded in black and draped with an American flag, onto a flatbed truck. Bagpipers played "Amazing Grace." Photo Credit: Associated Press

On May 30, 2002, the Last Column was removed from the World Trade Center site on the flatbed truck in a public, televised ceremony. Thousands of people attended including family and friends of victims, members of the armed forces, dignitaries, and rescue, recovery, and relief workers. An honor guard escorted the column from the site. Police and Fire Department buglers played "Taps," while bagpipers and drummers performed "America, the Beautiful." Photo Credit: Associated Press

Over 2,500 9/11 artifacts were housed in Hangar 17 at JFK Airport. Photo by Amy Dreher. From the mangled first responder's emergency vehicles to shafts of broken metal, some 2,500 relics from 9/11 have been held in Hangar 17 at John F Kennedy International Airport. Photo Credit: Google Images

Beneath the wreckage of the Twin Towers, a 36-foot-tall piece of steel remained standing, anchored into bedrock. This steel piece was once a part of Column 1001B—one of 47 columns that supported the South Tower’s inner core. Uncovered by workers during the nine-month recovery period, this resilient steel remnant, the last column to be removed from the World Trade Center site, assumed symbolic status for those working at Ground Zero. Once exposed from beneath the rubble, the steel piece helped support a temporary haul road laid near the remnants of the South Tower lobby’s elevator banks. First responders last reported to have been near the lobby before the tower’s collapse were believed to be buried close by. Due to its proximity to this last known location of first responders, the column became a marker of loss. In March 2002, after the remains of some missing members of FDNY Squad 41 were found in the area, a squad member painted “SQ 41” on the column to denote the recovery. Other agencies including the NYPD and FDNY left similar markings. In time, recovery workers, as well as relatives and friends of victims, placed other mementos and inscriptions on the column, filling its surfaces to honor those lost. In addition to an American flag attached to the top, tributes include notes to loved ones, patriotic messages, signatures, union stickers, agency patches, photographs, memorial and prayer cards, and flowers. The column was cut down and removed from the site in two ceremonies that marked the completion of the recovery period at Ground Zero. On the evening of May 28, 2002, trade union members cut the Last Column from its footing in a private ceremony held by and for recovery and relief workers. Workers then laid the column, shrouded in black and draped with an American flag, onto a flatbed truck. Bagpipers played "Amazing Grace." On May 30, 2002, the Last Column was removed from the World Trade Center site on the flatbed truck in a public, televised ceremony. Thousands of people attended including family and friends of victims, members of the armed forces, dignitaries, and rescue, recovery, and relief workers. An honor guard escorted the column from the site. Police and Fire Department buglers played "Taps," while bagpipers and drummers performed "America, the Beautiful." The Last Column returned to the World Trade Center site and was installed in the Museum in August 2009. Now standing in Foundation Hall, the column still bears the markings and memorial tributes. By Emily Edwards, Collections and Exhibitions Coordinator and Katherine Fleming, Exhibition Coordinator

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum that are part of the World Trade Center complex, in New York City, created for remembering the September 11 attacks of 2001, which killed 2,977 people, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six. The memorial is located at the World Trade Center site, the former location of the Twin Towers that were destroyed during the September 11 attacks. It is operated by a non-profit institution whose mission is to raise funds for, program, and operate the memorial and museum at the World Trade Center site. A memorial was planned in the immediate aftermath of the attacks and destruction of the World Trade Center for the victims and those involved in rescue and recovery operations. The winner of the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition was Israeli-American architect Michael Arad of Handel Architects, a New York City and San Francisco-based firm. Arad worked with landscape-architecture firm Peter Walker and Partners on the design, creating a forest of swamp white oak trees with two square reflecting pools in the center marking where the Twin Towers stood. In August 2006, the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey began heavy construction on the memorial and museum. The design is consistent with the original master plan by Daniel Libeskind, which called for the memorial to be 30 feet (9.1 m) below street level—originally 70 feet (21 m)—in a plaza, and was the only finalist to disregard Libeskind's requirement that the buildings overhang the footprints of the Twin Towers. The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation was renamed the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in 2007. A dedication ceremony commemorating the tenth anniversary of the attacks was held at the memorial on September 11, 2011, and it opened to the public the following day. The museum was dedicated on May 15, 2014, with remarks from Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg and President Barack Obama. Six days later, the museum opened to the public. Photo Credit: Associated Press

Only 20 people were pulled out of the rubble alive; Jimeno and McLoughlin were numbers 18 and 19.

On June 11, 2002, McLoughlin, with a walker, and Jimeno, with a limp, walked across the stage at Madison Square Garden to receive the Port Authority’s Medal of Honor.

The 2006 film, World Trade Center directed by Oliver Stone dramatizes the survival story of John McLoughlin, played by Nicolas Cage, and William Jimeno, played by Michael Peña, and their surviving the collapse of the towers buried below the rubble of the World Trade Center as their families try to learn if they are still alive, or if they are victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people and instigated the multi-decade global war on terror that ended when U.S. armed forces left the region of Afghanistan on August 30, 2021, resulting in the return of to power of the Taliban. McLoughlin and Jimeno make a brief appearance at the end of the film greeting their film characters at a BBQ.