On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the United States was attacked by the Islamic terrorist group known as Al-Qaeda. This terrorist attack involved the hijacking of four passenger airlines from airports in the northeastern United States going to California. Two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Within an hour and forty-two minutes both 110-story towers collapsed. A third plane American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, DC. The fourth plane, United Airlines 93, crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania after passengers prevented hijackers from reaching the targeted destination.
Image taken by Robert Clark and is of the second plane hitting the tower.
Image created by Gil Cohen and is of a solider flying over the Pentagon. 
Image of Flight 93 after it crashed into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
September 11, 2001, is considered one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in human history and the single deadliest incident ever for firefighters and law enforcement officers.1 The World Trade Center experienced more losses than the other two locations. Of the 2,749 fatalities, 343 were New York City Firefighters, 23 were New York Police Officers, and 84 Port Authority Employes and Police Officers. However, miraculously twenty people were pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center. Officer Will Jimeno and Sergeant John McLoughlin were from the Port Authority Police Department two of the people rescued. They were numbers eighteen and nineteen.2
Based on the courageous rescue and survival of Officer Will Jimeno and Sergeant John McLoughlin comes the 2006 movie World Trade Center. This film was directed by Oliver Stone and is the topic of my History 329, US History in Film, project. The goal of this project is to analyze a particular film dealing with a United States History topic, specifically focusing on the portrayal of the past in the film and its accuracy, exploring the perspective of the filmmakers, and the relative success and reliability of the film as a primary and secondary source of historical information. For more information about this course and project please reference the course website.
- Patrick J. Kiger, “How 9/11 Became the Deadliest Day in History for U.S. Firefighters,” May 20, 2019, https://www.history.com/news/9-11-world-trade-center-firefighters.
- World Trade Center, Amazon Prime Video, 2006, https://www.amazon.com/World-Trade-Center-Nicolas-Cage/dp/B07BPFLYCD/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2GI15LORIIK2S&dchild=1&keywords=world+trade+center&qid=1604944266&s=instant-video&sprefix=world+trade+Center%2Cprime-instant-video%2C150&sr=1-1, 1:59:30-1:59:55.
