Chester Hero Buried Under Rubble For 13 Hours On 9/11 Reflects 25 Years Later

CHESTER, NJ — It’s been 25 years since Will Jimeno, 58, of Chester, was pulled from the wreckage of the Twin Towers after being buried for roughly 13 hours, and his story continues to serve as one of courage and determination.

On Sept. 11, 2001, at the age of 33, Jimeno was a Port Authority Police Officer, and like many people, went into work like any other day.

After arriving at his post on 42nd and 8th Street, he was almost immediately called back to the station. It was there that he saw the World Trade Center burning on a large television.

In a 2011 interview, Jimeno told Patch that, at that moment, everything “clicked” with his cross-training as a firefighter and as a first responder, standard requirements for Port Authority Police Officers.

Jimeno and his five-man team raced to the scene, which he described as “armageddon.” His crew was attempting to evacuate to South Tower when it collapsed on top of them.

“The sound was so loud it shook my helmet like a movie,” Jimeno previously told Patch. “And then I saw a fireball bigger than my house coming toward us.”

Jimeno, pinned under a slab of concrete, watched as his colleagues disappeared and died in the dust and rubble. Stuck beneath tons of stone and steel, the only two left in the crew were Jimeno and his Sergeant, John McLoughlin.

Over the course of a “torturous” several hours, Jimeno was trapped beneath the rubble, going back and forth between accepting his fate and refusing to give up. It was after 13 hours that first responders were able to free him from the rubble and rush him to a hospital.

After 13 hours stuck beneath the World Trade Center, Jimeno then underwent 13 surgeries, flatlining on the operating table twice. The other survivor of his crew, McLoughlin, was rescued after 22 hours.

Jimeno was able to witness the birth of his second daughter, Olivia, just two-and-a-half months after the fateful day. After a two-year recovery process, and with a partially paralyzed leg, Jimeno is alive and well with his family in Chester, continuing to tell his harrowing story.

“We all face adversity. We all have our own World Trade Centers. It can feel like having two buildings fall on you,” Jimeno told Patch. “It is important to have faith and hope and love. There is more good in the world than we know.”

25 Years Of Never Forgetting

Following the worst terrorist attack in United States history, the Colombian-American’s story is remembered as intensely as the attacks themselves.

In 2021, Jimeno put his story to paper, co-authoring “Sunrise Through the Darkness: A Survivor's Account of Learning to Live Again Beyond 9/11.”

He also co-wrote a children’s book called “Immigrant, American, Survivor: A Little Boy Who Grew Up To Be All Three.”

“This book teaches all the children that read it so many valuable lessons, including never giving up on your dreams, patriotism, overcoming life's challenges, and the cost of Freedom,” Jimeno said on social media. “I hope you share this book with a child you love.

His story is also solidified on the big screen through the 2006 movie “World Trade Center,” in which he is portrayed by Michael Peña. Jimeno himself makes a cameo in the William Oliver Stone film as an unnamed Port Authority Police Officer.

Jimeno recently reflected on his life since the attack with People Magazine. He talks of not only the physical pain he suffered on Sept. 11 and for years onward, but also the mental consequences of surviving such an ordeal.

“You have to move forward,” he told People. “And pain is something that should motivate you again to find your sunrise.”

See Patch's 2011 in-depth coverage of Jimeno's story below:

• PART 1 — Sept. 10, 2001: Living the American Dream
• PART 2 — 9/11 Hero: I Looked Back And It Was A 'Lonely Feeling'
• PART 3 — 9/11 Survivor: No Lack of Heroes