Lt. John McLoughlin, the last man saved from the WTC ruble retired last week. The story of his rescue is an amazing story worthy of a Hollywood screenplay, yet for some reason is not widely known. While an engaging and dramatic story stares them straight in the face, Hollywood insists on making drivel like Gigli or Garfield…
Rebecca Liss at Slate tells the story of the Marine who found McLoughlin and fellow Port Authority Police officer William Jimeno.
Only 12 survivors were pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center after the towers fell on Sept. 11, despite intense rescue efforts. Two of the last three to be located and saved were Port Authority police officers. They were not discovered by a heroic firefighter, or a rescue worker, or a cop. They were discovered by Dave Karnes.
Karnes hadn’t been near the World Trade Center. He wasn’t even in New York when the planes hit the towers. He was in Wilton, Conn., working in his job as a senior accountant with Deloitte Touche. When the second plane hit, Karnes told his colleagues, “We’re at war.” He had spent 23 years in the Marine Corps infantry and felt it was his duty to help. Karnes told his boss he might not see him for a while.
[Read the rest]After that day Dave Karnes re-enlisted in the Marine reserves. His last known assignment was to Company A, 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment deployed in Okinawa. When asked about his action, he said the following:
“In an interview I did on television, a reporter asked me ‘Are you a hero Dave?’ which I thought was a strange question,” Karnes concluded. “I thought about it for a second and said ‘No. I’m a Marine and I was just doing what Marines do.'”
Via – Mickey Kaus
Regrettably, movies about such men no longer get made. What are the chances of an Audie Murphy existing in today’s Hollywood? Zip.
Why? Because movies need villans…and Nazis or terrorists aren’t enough for the pampered elites. In a world ruled by backbiting and infighting, the notion that the bad guys might actually be OUTSIDE one’s sphere of colleagues/co-workers is nearly unthinkable.
If he had said “Halliburton put me in this ditch” and bitched, they’d be lusting for him. But “No, I’m a Marine, and I was just doing what Marines do” just totally throws them “cognescenti” schmucks for a loop.