The True Story of the Ex-Paramedic Rescuer in WTC Movie

[JPZenger]

The movie World Trade Center shows how 2 cops buried in the rubble of the complex were found in the smoldering darkness by an ex-Marine who drove in from Connecticut and an ex-paramedic out of rehab, Chuck Sereika. They were searching for survivors on their own after the fire department had been ordered to go home for the night. Here is a newspaper story about the ex-paramedic:

http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,2545,TCP_16736_4898948,00.html

"I hadn't worked as a paramedic in a few years." In fact, he'd let his license expire months before, while he'd been at a treatment facility out west. Drinking, drugs and depression had become Sereika's support system; the black sheep of an already dysfunctional family.. He'd thrown on one of his blue paramedic sweatshirts, walked to a nearby hospital and talked his way onto an emergency vehicle going to the site.

...Serieka spent several hours carefully stepping through rubble with members of the New York police and fire departments. At dusk, the site — pockmarked with fires and the jagged architecture of disaster — was deemed too dangerous, and rescuers were called back. On his own, he began to climb the smoking rubble heap..."I actually figured that their lives were probably worth more than mine. I also figured that I wasn't going to live through this. I thought, 'There's no way I'm coming back.' "Because I had to crawl, from the outside, on my hands and knees. There was big spaces in the rubble, and some went down what looked like 90 feet."

He came upon Staff Sgt. Dave Karnes, a retired Marine who had driven in from Connecticut to volunteer... Karnes helped Sereika shimmy himself into the crawlspace that would lead to the trapped officer..." Sereika pulled debris away for about 30 minutes, and once others arrived, he gave Jimeno oxygen and an intravenous drip. A pair of emergency medical technicians backed into the tight space to assist. Once Jimeno was freed, loaded into a stretcher and ferried out by a bucket brigade of responders, Sereika — bruised, exhausted, his lungs scorched by the burning subterranean air — was helped out of the hole. He could barely stand. He was, despite his screwups, self-doubts and family recriminations, a paramedic after all."

[LadyoftheRabbits]

1. That's a great story...

Thanks for sharing that :hi: :D

[Major Hogwash]

2. Good story.

I haven't decided whether I will go to the movie yet or not though.

[JPZenger]

3. Movie isn't depressing, gory or political

The movie tells a straightforward story about ordinary people who rose up to do extraordinary things. The movie is not political, not depressing and not overly graphic. I took my 10 and 13 year olds to see it, and they were fine with it. The whole movie is told from the perspective of the 2 cops who were buried under the rubble and their families.

[JPZenger]

4. Second Marine Rescuer is Finally Identified

Mystery 9/11 rescuer reveals himself
By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press Writer

For years, authorities wondered about the identity of a U.S. Marine who appeared at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, helped find a pair of police officers buried in the rubble, then vanished.
Even the producers of the new film chronicling the rescue, "World Trade Center," couldn't locate the mystery serviceman, who had given his name only as Sgt. Thomas. The puzzle was finally solved when one Jason Thomas, of Columbus, Ohio, saw a TV commercial for the new movie a few weeks ago as he relaxed on his couch.

...Thomas, 32, hesitantly re-emerged last week to recount the role he played in the rescue of Port Authority police officers Will Jimeno and Sgt. John McLoughlin, who were entombed beneath 20 feet of debris when the twin towers collapsed. Back in New York to speak of his experience and visit family, Thomas provided the AP with photographs of himself at ground zero. As further proof of his identity, the movie's producer, Michael Shamberg, said Thomas and Jimeno have spoken by phone and shared details only the two of them would know. Thomas, who had been out of the Marine Corps about a year, was dropping his daughter off at his mother's Long Island home when she told him planes had struck the towers.

He retrieved his Marine uniform from his truck, sped to Manhattan and had just parked his car when one of the towers collapsed. Thomas ran toward the center of the ash cloud. "Someone needed help. It didn't matter who," he said. "I didn't even have a plan. But I have all this training as a Marine, and all I could think was, 'My city is in need.'" Thomas bumped into another ex-Marine, Staff Sgt. David Karnes, and the pair decided to search for survivors. "


World Trade Center film: http://www.wtcmovie.com/