American Heroes of 9/11: Chief Peter Ganci, Jr.

The last known footage of Peter Ganci alive is four seconds long. He is being told the towers are about to come down. He was the top uniformed officer in the FDNY, with 11,000 firefighters under him. He called them his children. He ran the rescue of both towers from a command post on West Street, sending his men up the stairs while thousands came down. The South Tower fell on that command post and he lived. He went into the debris after his men, sent another chief north to safety, and stayed. Twenty-nine minutes later the North Tower fell on him. Peter Ganci is an American hero.