Tuesday, August 15, 2006

SEMPER FI (and why every American should know what that means)

NEW YORK -- For years, authorities wondered about the identity of a U.S. marine who appeared at the World Trade Center on 9/11, helped find a pair of police officers buried in the rubble, then vanished. The producers of the new movie, World Trade Center, couldn't locate the mystery man who gave his name only as Sgt. Thomas. Then Jason Thomas, of Ohio, saw a TV commercial for the movie a few weeks ago. His eyes widened as he saw two marines with flashlights, hunting for survivors atop the smouldering ruins. "That's us. That's me!" thought Thomas, who now works as an officer in Ohio's Supreme Court. Thomas, 32, emerged last week to recount the role he played in the rescue of Port Authority police officers Will Jimeno and Sgt. John McLoughlin.

Thomas, who had been out of the Marine Corps about a year, was dropping his daughter off at his mother's Long Island home when she told him planes had struck the towers.
He retrieved his old uniform, sped to Manhattan and arrived just a tower collapsed. "I didn't even have a plan," he said. "But I have all this training as a marine, and all I could think was, "My city is in need."
Thomas bumped into another ex-marine, Staff Sgt. David Karnes, and the pair decided to search for survivors.
Carrying little more than flashlights and an infantryman's shovel, they climbed the mountain of debris, skirting dangerous crevasses and shards of red-hot metal, calling out "Is anyone down there? United States Marines!"
It was dark before they heard a response. The two crawled into a deep pit to find McLoughlin and Jimeno, injured but alive.
Thomas returned to help for two more weeks, then walked away and tried to forget.
Thomas said he is becoming more comfortable telling his story. "It's been like therapy."

(this was compiled from several wire service reports. This ex-marine is now humbly being pushed into the limelight in view of the upcoming movie about the WTC.)

*sidenote* Sgt. Thomas is portrayed by a white actor in the WTC movie, Thomas' comment was basically "let's not make that an issue" (I bet the producers of the movie are FREAKING out, which they deserve, the fucking idiots, lol...I mean, come ON, like jesse jackson and al sharpton need another reason to camera-whore)

All I can say is, I want Sgt. Jason Thomas to know that his heroic action exemplifes what our country stands for, and that we ALL owe he and his fellow servicemen and women, our unwavering gratitude.

Semper Fidelis OOH RAH