On the 11 September 2001 Aaron McLamb, an amateur, arrived at his 10 floor office close to the Brooklyn Bridge when an aircraft plane hit the North tower. The then 20 years old watched in horror as barely 20 minutes later, a second plane crashed into the South Tower.
Snatching up his camera McLamb captured an unforgettable picture of a red fire truck burning up the Brooklyn Bridge as the burning World Trade Center looms in the background.
The truck, NYPD Ladder 118 was on its way to a fire call in lower Manhattan, and no one knew that they would be responding to their last call for duty and that would be the last call that six firemen would ever respond to during their career.
And McLamb who used to pass the station quite often said he envied their courage, “Not all heroes wear capes”.
A 20-year old Aaron McLamb from North Carolina, who was a native of Charlotte, always dreamed of becoming a firefighter, and used to pass the FDNY Ladder 118 station on Middagh St. in Brooklyn, where he talked to workers who were at the hall.
A hobbyist shutterbug McLamb of Instagram rr_equipment_and_more. Many a time he took pictures of the truck, never knowing that the picture he took on the 11th september 2001 was one of the most iconic images of the final run of six fire fighters.
McLamb was on the 10th floor of the Jehovah’s Witness facility by the Brooklyn Bridge when the first plane full of 20,000 gallons of jet fuel slammed into the World Trade Centre.
He was horrified as flames poured out of the North Tower, and then just a few minutes after 9 a.m., another airplane entered the horizon, and swinging toward the World Trade Center, it plunged into the south tower at the 60th level.
Finding his camera in a storage room, he stood outside of a bay window and began snapping away.
The thought of it is incredible” said “When I saw the fire trucks going across the bridge, I just had to start taking pictures of them, with no understanding that those guys wouldn’t come back [sic]”, McLamb, now 37, told the Daily News. It was like some sort of a dream from being that high up and seeing everything that was happening below. The crackling of the fire and the creaking of the buildings could not be heard. We could only hear the sirens of the fire trucks as they crossed the bridge.
Bottom of this picture depicts Ladder 118 crossing Brooklyn Bridge to World Trade…
Posted by Law enforcement officers weekend sunday,august 23 2020
One of McLamb’s photos where Ladder 118 can be seen crossing Brooklyn Bridge together with the growing mass of the black smoke from the towers on the background became one of the most prominent photos from the 9/11 attacks.
Ladder 118
After the second plane hit the South Tower, firemen Vernon Cherry, Leon Smith, Joey Agnello, Robert Regan, Pete Vega, and Scott Davidson left the Brooklyn Heights fire hall and they were on their way.
When they arrived, the six men from Ladder 118, waded further into the carnage, crashed to the Marriott World Trade Center Hotel, who exploded around them when the 110-storey towers imploded.
Survivors remembered seeing the heroes with the number 118 on their helmets going up the stairs to help guests.
They were never to be seen alive again.
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“They knew what was going on, and they went down with their ship,” said a former elevator mechanic at the hotel Bobby Graff. Citing the hundreds of guests and Marriott staff who lived, he went on “They weren’t going to leave until everybody got out”. They must have rescued a few hundred people on that day. I know they saved my life”, I know.
Days after, Graff talked to the members of station and explained how the fearless team did not leave until they securely evacuated the building.
Retired firefighter John Sorrentino said, “They heard the rumble of the tower coming down and Graff everybody started running. After the smoke cleared he was in a spot where he survived and everyone else died. Sorrentino went on to say, “[Graff] could see the look on the guys faces from 118, that they knew that this was going to end bad but they weren’t leaving because they wanted to get as many people out as safe as they could”.
And that’s how we learned what Ladder 118 did that day.” – Sorrentino added.
Some of the men on Ladder 118 were discovered a few feet apart, while others were found days or weeks later.
The truck, which was last seen crossing the bridge to the site at top speed, was a mangled heap of steel and glass and retrieved within days of the attack.
Two months down the line, firemen were digging through the wreckage when they discovered tools with the Ladder 118 logo engraved on them.
The heroes of Ladder 118
Vernon Cherry, who has spent 30 years with FDNY, was planning to retire at the end of the year. The 49-year-old, who lived in New York City with his wife and three children, was also a moonlighting wedding singer. One of the firefighters at the hall said about Cherry, “He would just sing. He would be climbing up the stairs, in the locker room, taking a shower. He had a beautiful voice”.
One of the drivers of the Ladder 118, Leon Smith, 48, was the father of three. He joined the FDNY in 1982. Said his mother, Irene, “He would wash his rig every single day, and when he went off duty, he’d say, ‘Listen, my baby better be clean.’ He called that his girlfriend.”
Joseph Agnello was a 35-year-old recipient of two biological children, as well as the father of dogs and a life he loved. “People on my block didn’t know my husband was a fireman,” his wife Vinnie Carla Agnello said. He never had to discuss about himself or the job. He was not that kind of person that needed attention”.
Lt. Robert “Bobby” Regan who was 48 years old, began his career as a civil engineer, but joined FDNY in order to see his young children more. “He was Mr. Mom,” said his wife Donna. Never a day went by that we never knew what we had. We told our kids not all are going to be as happy as we are”.
Prior to joining FDNY in 1995, Pete Vega served in U.S. Air Force for six years, in which he served during Desert Storm before honorable discharge. The wife and mother of his children, Regan said that Pete, 36, called her just before jumping from Ladder 118. She remembers his kind and generous heart. “If he was sweeping out our gutter he would sweep out that of the neighbor as well”.
FDNY members hold a moment of silence at Engine 205 and Ladder 118.
New York City Fire Department (FDNY) September 11, 2017
Scott Davidson–the father of Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson started his firefighting career in 1994. The body of the 33-year-old man was only found in three weeks in the rubble. He was famous for his humor, gold heart, and Christmas love. Of the trauma Pete has grown with “You know Dad says he is coming to pick you up and he doesn’t”, said Pete. For life, I’m like, I don’t believe anyone…” he said.
Agnello, Vega, and Cherry are all buried in separate plots next to each other in Green-Wood Cemetery, in Brooklyn. They were found side by side, and they should stay side by side”, according to Agnello’s wife.
Ladder 118’s team are six of 343 firefighters who died in the 9/11, a number which – according to USA Today – was nearly half of “on-duty deaths in the New York City Fire Department’s entire 100-year history”.
Sorrentino also was at the Brooklyn Heights firehouse when McLamb arrived bearing a stack of pictures, which he showed to the survivors, who recognized the truck as Ladder 118.
McLamb then emailed the chilling picture onto the media and it was viewed the world over as the fatal last call of the fire truck that symbolizes patriotism and tragedy on September 11, 2001.
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Two years ago, McLamb participated in a discussion on Reddit, stating the back story associated with his picture. He writes “I took this pic”. These [firefighters] were very nice guys. They always had time to stop and talk to me whenever I walked past the station. He continued: “I didn’t have a clue, that any of these guys wouldn’t come back, but I admired their bravery headed in. I pictured them staring at the front windows of the rig knowing this was going to be the fight of their lives. Not all heroes wear capes.”
We wish the family and friends of all the emergency workers who were so dedicated to their jobs that they died to bear it as little as possible. The number of people dying would have been higher if they lacked support.
To the family and friends of the men of the Ladder 118, we hope that some comfort can be gained knowing that hundreds of people can credit your loved ones with their survival.
