Aaron McLamb, an amateur photographer, was at his office on the 10th floor near to the Brooklyn Bridge on September 11, 2001 and an airplane plane crashed into the North Tower. Then, the 20-year-old man looked on in horror as only less than 20 minutes later, a second plane smashed into the South Tower.
Hurriedly scooping up his camera, McLamb took the unforgettable photo, of a red fire truck streaming over the Brooklyn Bridge, as the burning World Trade Center towered in the frame.
The truck NYPD Ladder 118 was on route to a call for a fire in the lower part of Manhattan and when they left out, no one knew it would be the last time six firefighters would ever run in to a fire.
And McLamb, who used to drive by the station quite often, said he was marvelled by their bravery and “not all heroes wear capes”.
Aaron McLamb, a 20-year old from North Carolina, dreamt to become a firefighter and used to pass the FDNY Ladder 118 station on Middagh St. in Brooklyn, talking to the workers at the hall.
An amateur photographer McLamb, under the Instagram name rr_equipment_and_more. Generally taking pictures of the truck, he never anticipated that the one that he took in the morning of 11 September 2001 would become one of the symbols that eternized the last run of six firefighters.
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McLamb was at the 10th floor of the Jehovah’s Witness facility close to the Brooklyn bridge when the first plane, with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel, hit the World Trade Centre.
He saw in terror flames spew from the North Tower, and then, a bit after nine, another airplane lifted into the sky, and curving quickly toward the World Trade Center, it crashed into the south tower, about the 60th floor.
Even though he knew it was not appropriate to use the company’s equipment, he ran to get his camera which was stored somewhere nearby, and began snapping away outside a bay window.
When I saw the fire trucks passing by on the bridge, just had to start taking pictures of them, with no idea that those guys wouldn’t come back,” McLamb, who is now 37 years old, said to the Daily News. One was almost moved to a state of surrealism being so high up and observing the things that were being done on the ground below. You couldn’t hear the sound of the fire crackling or the sound of the buildings creak. There was only the sound of the sirens of the fire trucks, crossing the bridge.
At the bottom of this picture you can see Ladder 118 crossing over the Brooklyn Bridge as they went to World Trade…
Written by Law Enforcement Officers Weekend on Sun 23 Aug 2020
One of McLamb’s pictures – the picture representing a ladder climbing over the Brooklyn Bridge and a rising wave of black smoke from the towers – became one of the most prominent ones from 9/11 attacks.
Ladder 118
After the second plane crashed into the South Tower, the fire fighters Vernon Cherry, Leon Smith, Joey Agnello, Robert Regan, Pete Vega, and Scott Davidson left Brooklyn Heights fire hall and went on their journey.
When they got there, the six men from Ladder 118 went further into the carnage and came to the Marriott World Trade Center Hotel and it exploded around them when the 110-storey towers fell.
While survivors recalled the sight of the heroes with number 118 on helmets who were running up the stairs to rescue guests.
They were never seen alive, again.
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From National September 11 Memorial & Museum – Posted on Monday, September 26, 2022
“They knew what was going on, and they went down with their ship”, Bobby Graff, said, a former elevator mechanic at the same hotel. Referring to the several hundreds of guests and Marriott employees who survived, he went on “They weren’t going to leave until everyone got out”. They must have rescued a few hundred people on that day. I know they saved me from death”.
Days later Graff talked to the members of the station and described the way the brave team refused to leave the building until its complete evacuation.
Retired firefighter John Sorrentino told, ” They heard the rumble of the tower coming down and Graff, everyone just started running.” Post clearing of the smoke [Graff] found himself in a situation where he lived while everyone else perished”. Sorrentino went on saying, “[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 safely that they could.”
Sorrentino added, “And, that is how we found out what Ladder 118 did that day.”
Some of the men from Ladder 118 were found a few feet apart, while others were found days or weeks later.
The truck, last known to be thundering over the bridge to the site, was a twisted heap of steel and glass and retrieved within days of the attack.
Two months down the road, fire fighters cleaning up the debris came across tools that were engraved with the Ladder 118 logo.
The heroes of Ladder 118
Vernon Cherry, a 30-year veteran with FDNY, was looking forward to retirement at the end of this year. The 49-year-old, living in New York City with his wife and three children, also sang at weddings on the side. A firefighter at the hall said: “He would just sing”, speaking of Cherry. He would be climbing up the stairs, the locker room, taking a shower. He had a very pretty voice”.
A dad of three, Leon Smith, age 48, was FDNY personnel since year 1982 and he was the chauffeur –the driver– for Ladder 118. His mother Irene regaled that about her son, “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 man who had two kids and loved his kids, his dogs and his life. “People on my block didn’t know my husband was a fireman,” insisted his wife, Vinnie Carla Agnello. He does not need to ever have to mention himself or the job. He was not the attention seeker type of person.
Lt. Robert “Bobby” Regan, 48, worked as a civil engineer before joining the FDNY in order to be able to spend more time with his young children. Said his wife Donna: “He was Mr. Mom” We never had one day that we did not know what we had. We told our children not all people will be as lucky as we are to be as happy.
Pete Vega had six years of experience serving in the U.S. Air Force before he took up employment in FDNY in 1995. He served at Desert Storm and was honorably discharged. Regan, his wife and the mother of his children, Pete who is 36 years of age, allegedly rang her just before he jumped from ladder 118. She remembers his good and generous heart. Thinking of this, “if he was cleaning out our gutter, he would clean the neighbor’s, too”.
FDNY members stand in silence for a few seconds at the Engine 205 and Ladder 118.
New York City Fire Department (FDNY) posted on September 11, 2017, Monday
Scott Davidson – the father of Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson -started his fire-fighting career in 1994. The body of the 33 years old man was pulled dead out from the debris three weeks later. People remembered him because of his wit and his gold-heartedness and his love of Christmas. Pete talked about the trauma that he’s grown up with, “You know Dad says he is coming to pick you up and he doesn’t”. For life, I’m like: I don’t believe anyone…”, he said.
Agnello, Vega, Cherry are all still together buried in adjoining plots in the Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery. They were found side by side and they had to stay side by side, said the wife of Agnello.
The team of Ladder 118 are six among 343 firemen killed in 9/11, which, according to the USA Today, was almost half of the total body of “on-duty deaths in the New York City Fire Department’s entire 100-year history”.
Sorrentino was also at the Brooklyn Heights firehouse when McLamb arrived with an armload of pictures which he passed around, and the survivors confirmed that it was Ladder 118.
McLamb then forwarded the chilling picture to the media, which got published all over the world as the final call of the fire truck that speaks of the patriotism as well as tragedy of September 11, 2001.
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Posted by National September 11 Memorial & Museum on Friday 3 April 2020
Two years ago, McLamb responded to a conversation about him on Reddit clearifying the story behind his image. He writes:” I took this pic. These were very nice guys (firefighters). They always communicated to me whenever I passed the station. He continued, “I didn’t have any idea that any one of these guys wasn’t going to come back, but I admired their bravery headed in.” I pictured them peering through the front windows of the rig knowing that they were in for a fight they would never forget. Not all heroes wear capes.”
Our hearts and thoughts are with all these emergency people who were so dedicated to their jobs that they died for them. Without their support, more people would have died had it not been for their support.
For the family and friends of the men of Ladder 118, we hope that knowing that hundreds of people give thanks to your loved ones for being here and that your loved ones are the reason that these people are alive gives you some peace.