Will Jimeno has revealed the desperate prayer that stopped him from surrendering to death beneath the World Trade Center rubble.
Jimeno, 33 at the time, was a Port Authority Police Department officer when the towers fell on September 11, 2001. He was thrown onto his back as debris rained down, and two of his partners were killed in the chaos. Trapped alongside his supervisor, Sgt. John McLoughlin, he would spend roughly 13 hours buried alive while his wife was seven months pregnant with their first child.
“I remember thinking, ‘We’re going to die,'” Jimeno said of the horrific moment.
McLoughlin kept them fighting with stark warnings. “There’s no training for this,” Jimeno recalled his supervisor saying. “This is going to come down to the will we have to survive. If you fall asleep, you’re going to die.”
The exhaustion and pain nearly won. Jimeno recalled thinking, “‘God, I’m going to close my eyes, I’m going to give up,'” praying that he would see the birth of his little girl when he got to heaven. He also hoped he could “ask for a glass of water” in heaven, due to his crushing thirst in the moments he was trapped.
The pair prayed repeatedly before Jimeno was pulled free at 11 p.m. He was one of only 20 people rescued from the wreckage. The rescue came too late for McLoughlin to survive the same day.
Jimeno’s body bore the cost of those hours. He underwent eight surgeries, and his left leg remains partially paralyzed. When his wife gave birth to their daughter Olivia, he watched from a wheelchair, unable to stand.
Now retired from the PAPD, Jimeno describes his survival as a “second lease of life,” a gift he carries with the weight of “so many people not making it home that day.” He has dedicated his post-police career to speaking with students and others about his experience and “the importance of remembering.”
He has also taken many positive lessons from the ordeal, telling the 9/11 Memorial and Museum: “As a survivor I want everyone to know that there was more love than evil on that day … [and] as survivors, the way we honor all those that we lost is by being better human beings, keeping these memories alive, and talking about them.”
The anniversary period has brought other survivors back together as well. Last month, National Geographic released the documentary “9/11 Reunited,” chronicling Jan Demczur, John Paczkowski and George Phoenix, who were trapped in an elevator together during the attacks. Window cleaner Demczur used his squeegee blade to frantically peck through a wall, creating a hole that allowed the men to break free.
“It was remarkable,” Paczkowski said. “This gentleman who I would see on a daily basis, his demener was the calmest out of most of us, although I’m sure he was just as frightened as we were.”
“Without Jan, we wouldn’t be talking right now,” Phoenix added, as the three reunited for the first time since 2001 and shared an emotional embrace.
Jimeno continues his speaking work as the 25th anniversary of the attacks approaches.