[sirens]
[people screaming]
[Will Jimeno]: We found ourselves in a very dark little void.
I was trapped for a total of 13 hours
and at that point I had determined that if I'm going to die, I'm going to fight until the end.
[Buried Alive on 9/11]
On September 11, I started my day off like every day.
I'd kiss Allison goodbye; she was 7 months pregnant.
I went into the next bedroom, kiss my 4-year-old daughter
and I'd get in my truck and drive from New Jersey into Mid-town Manhattan.
I was a Port Authority police officer from the Port Authority Police with New York and New Jersey.
[Will Jimeno- Former Port Authority Police Officer] Our radio's crackled asking us to come back to the police desk.
That's when I say Tower 1 on fire.
[sirens]
There were papers flying throughout the air, there was a lot of dust, there was a lot of debris.
Building 1 had the big gaping hole with smoke coming out of it.
Sergeant McLoughlin had asked for volunteers
and myself, Dominick Pezzulo, and Antonio Rodrigues volunteered
and we started running toward the buildings.
We got into Building 5, I would say, approximately 9:30, maybe a little bit after that.
When we heard the humungous boom I turned around and looked into lobby 2.
I didn't know what to do. I was just standing there.
It was like an earthquake. Everything was shaking.
Sergeant McLoughlin, he said, "Run, run toward the elevator shaft."
And the building was actually coming down and I found myself literally buried alive under concrete.
[Will and Sergeant John McLoughlin were buried 30 feet beneath the rubble.]
It was dark and then after a little bit I could see some light starting to come in from above me.
About 20 or 30 feet up there was a hole.
[Officers Dominick Pezzulo and Antonio Rodrigues did not survive the collapse of the towers.]
I yelled out to my Sarge with some colorful words, "We're going to make it out of this hell-hole. If not we're going to die trying."
At that point I realized that if I had given up I would have given up on my Sergeant because nobody could hear him,
I would have given up on my family because I didn't fight hard enough to get home.
At that point I had determined that if I'm going to die, I'm going to fight until the end.
[Will was buried for 13 hours.]
[Sergeant John McLoughlin was buried for 22 hours.]
[They were the last two men pulled alive from the World Trade Center.]
So this is my ID and my actual shield that I was wearing on 9-11.
So I was buried with both of these.
They both survived and luckily I was able to get them back after the attacks.
The physical recovery was tough.
The physical challenge I face is just more being able to do things that I used to do that I can't do anymore.
You know, I have a disability, I have a challenge and I just have to work around it.
The mental recovery was though.
I didn't know that I was suffering from PTSD right after 9-11.
It wasn't an easy road. I had to talk to several different people,
but finally ended up with a therapist that I felt comfortable with
and one that taught me that you're never going to get rid of PTSD,
but you can learn to live with it, you can learn to control it.
Unfortunately I had to retire as a Police Officer.
I didn't want to, and it's something that took a big blow to my dream of becoming a police officer.
In 2003, a friend of mine asked me to come to speak to a school of 3rd and 4th graders
who were afraid to get on planes.
The day that you feel you can't overcome something,
think about that guy that came to talk and say, "Listen, if he made it, why can't I?"
Then other people would keep calling me to different events and those events led to again, a purpose.
For the last several years children, parents, and educators kept saying, "You should have a kids book."
In 2020, I hooked up with my co-author Charles Ricciardi.
We gave it a go and the book, 'Immigrant American Survivor' came to fruition.
I'm very proud of it.
[Will's children's book celebrates his Colombian heritage and dreams of becoming a police officer.]
You know, it's important for me to share my story because to have found people that have been inspired by it.
[Will recently released another book, bringing his story to an adult audience.]
When I look at this uniform I think about the good people that I was able to be alongside of
and the positive impact we had on September 11.
I think my life's mission has always been to help people.
The phrase 'Never Give Up' means everything to me because I had to dig down deep when I was buried alive under the Trade Center
and that helped me get out and get to my family and get back home.
And I'm here 20 years later to tell everybody, never give up.
I don't care what's going on in your life, just don't give up.
[AARP]