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Jason Thomas is a U.S. Marine that lives in Mason City, Iowa who helped rescue people after the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]. He helped find a pair of Port Authority Police officers buried in the rubble of the World Trade Center.
Thomas 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, sped to Manhattan and had just parked his car when one of the towers collapsed. Thomas ran toward the center of the ash cloud.[1]
Thomas told the Associated Press: "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.'"[2]
Thomas encountered another former Marine, Dave Karnes, at the World Trade Center site, and went into the site to search for survivors. Karnes told a Defense Department publication:
“I asked Thomas and the others if anyone has been in the center of the collapse area where the two towers stood,” Karnes admitted. “He said no because the authorities won't let anyone near that area, so I asked him if he would take a walk over there with me.” Karnes and his new friend Thomas walked to the rubble that was once The World Trade Center complex. After charging into the wall of smoke in front of them, they executed a hasty patrol route through the debris field [3]
The two men heard cries for help from Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin, both pinned far below the wreckage.
In the 2006 Oliver Stone movie, World Trade Center, white actor William Mapother was cast as Thomas. In reality, Thomas is black. This information was not known at the time of filming, thus the reason for the mistake. The movie also inaccurately indicates that Karnes went alone to the pile, and met Thomas there.
References
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia |
