Thread by @LSArifles

GM.

The word “hero” gets thrown around a lot these days, and it's fairly difficult to pinpoint what exactly it has come to mean in our modern context.

My baseline for who (or what) a hero is always goes back to a conversation I had with my old man when I was younger, sitting on the bleachers above an empty soccer field.

To him, a hero is someone — ordinary or otherwise — who acts without selfishness for the good of others, even if it imperils themselves. The thought of what’s in it for themselves doesn’t even come to mind. They just go and… do.

That conversation with my father came a little under 2 months before 9/11, and when the dust settled, my old man’s thoughts were validated when stories of courage and selflessness beyond our comprehension started to rise out of the ashes.

In advance of tomorrow, the 23rd anniversary of 9/11, the following pictures in this thread all have a caption attached, each of them selected as a portrait of heroism.

Erik Troelson, a Danish businessman on a work trip to New York City, was stranded in the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel on his way to a meeting when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. Unaware of what was unfolding behind him on Manhattan, Troelson saw a number of FDNY firefighters running up the tunnel with the gear after their apparatuses got stuck behind traffic.

He took a picture, this one specifically.

45 minutes later, this firefighter — 37-year old Gary Box, husband and father of two — was killed during the first collapse.

This was the last photograph ever taken of Gary.

Adam McLamb brought his Canon camera to work nearly every day since he bought it. On 9/11/01, Adam looked out of his Brooklyn workplace's windows to see the Twin Towers ablaze. Having grown up with dreams of becoming a firefighter, he waited for the local fire trucks to deploy from his borough across the bridge so he could grab a picture.

It just so happened that he caught this one — Ladder 118 rushing towards the World Trade Center. Aboard Ladder 118 were Vernon Cherry, Leon Smith, Joey Agnello, Robert Regan, Pete Vega, and Scott Davidson.
The 6 made it to the Marriott hotel in the Towers and were an integral part of the effort that evacuated over 900 people successfully. When the towers came down, however, the 6 perished with them. All but one of their bodies were found together.

This was the last known photograph ever taken of Ladder 118.

A die-hard Yankees fan, a history-nut, husband and father of one, Port Authority officer Christopher Amoroso was working his first day at the World Trade Center instead of the Port Authority Bus Terminal where he was usually assigned.

When the Towers were hit, he led as many people as he could to safety before running back into the South Tower to rescue more, despite a massive gash on his face and burns everywhere. He wouldn't make it out of the building during his third trip, when the South Tower collapsed.

This is the last photograph ever taken of Christopher.

On 9/11, Cyril "Rick" Rescorla was Morgan Stanley's corporate security lead, working on the 44th floor of the South Tower. Ignoring shelter-in-place calls from the Port Authority, Rick began evacuating as many of the 2700 Morgan Stanley employees as he could.

He kept morale high and fears low by singing Cornish songs and God Bless America through his bullhorn, just as he had done with his men during his years in Vietnam as a cavalry officer, where he was decorated for bravery under fire.

Rick was responsible for saving thousands of lives that day before he rushed back into the South Tower to save more.

Before the building collapsed, he was able to make one last call to his wife, saying "Stop crying. I have to get these people out safely. If something should happen to me, I want you to know I've never been happier. You made my life."

This is the last known photograph of Rick. His remains were never recovered.

In closing.