No. 3 Vol. 9
September 2021
Area Man Urges Others Not to Live in Fear Through His Story of Survival
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By Steve Sears 7-year Chester Borough resident, William “Will” Jimeno, has co-authored his second book. You can certainly staple an “author” tag on him, but better yet, “grateful survivor” is perhaps more appropriate. Jimeno, an immigrant from Colombia who first grew up in Hackensack, became a Port Authority Police Officer in January of 2001, and was a rookie on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, now known historically as 9/11. When terrorists started that morning’s tragic events in motion, Jimeno called his wife, Allison, and was rushed from the pay phone as he told her he was going to the World Trade Center location, and didn’t have a chance to say, “I love you.” The aftermath of two planes purposely crashing into the World Trade Center towers was Jimeno being buried alive for 13 hours under fallen cement and debris, wondering if he’d ever see his loved ones again. “Something picked me up and just threw me on my back,” he recalls of the horror as the South Tower collapsed. “It was raining concrete down on us; suddenly there was just like 1000 freight trains - a billion freight trains - coming down on us.” He was rescued later that evening, and his Sergeant and fellow survivor, John McLoughlin, 9-hours later. ‘I mean, they were choking on smoke down there,” says Jimeno of his rescuers. “It was horrible. At that point, when they put me on the Stokes basket, they started passing me up the hole. I remember coming up out of the hole, and I looked up and asked, ‘Where is everything?’ Because I could see the moon, I could see the stars, I could see the sky, but I couldn’t see the buildings. That’s when a firefighter said, ‘That’s all gone, kid,’ At that point I started crying. That’s the first time I cried.” Jimeno got to say “I love you” to his wife of now-26 years again, see his oldest daughter, Bianca, grow, and see his wife give birth to a second daughter, Olivia, two months after his rescue. He details this and more in his latest book, “Sunrise
Through the Darkness – A Survivor’s Account of Learning to Live Again Beyond 9/11,” which he co-authored with friend and psychologist, Michael Moats, which was released on August 16. And for Jimeno, life and God gave him additional time on earth, and he’s using that time to inspire others. “I’m alive for that second sunlight, and I don’t take anything for granted,” says Jimeno, 53, who is also the co-author of a children’s book with illustrator, Charles Ricciardi, titled “Immigrant, American, Survivor – A Little Boy Who Grew Up To Be All Three.” His story was also told in the 2006 Oliver Stone movie, “World Trade Center.” “I’ve been doing speaking engagements since 2003, when I was asked to speak to a school, and exactly what I’ve told you is what I’ve told children: I inspire people because I want them to understand that you can’t live your life with fear.” His second book tells the reader about what happened to he and his team that fateful morning, but also talks about both his physical and mental recovery. “When I say ‘darkness,’ for me my darkness is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Some people have depression, anxiety; mine was anger. And it took a lot for me to learn on how to live again, in the sense of how to live again with the PTSD, and having a fruitful life.” Allison herself also delivers a chapter in the book on the secondary impacts of PTSD. Jimeno and McLoughlin still discuss 9/11 to this day. “A true example of heroism,” he says of McLoughlin. “I mean, he took double the injuries I had – still has open wounds. So, September 11 for us is not something that we celebrate or remember once a year. That for us is every day, and we’re blessed to be together. We have a great relationship, and I’m blessed to have him in my life.” Also, to be told that day in 2001 that he and McLoughlin were the only survivors was for Jimeno incredible. “20 years later, the lesson that I learned is not to look at the darkness but to look at the light, and to look at how we came together
Will Jimeno proudly holds his two co-authored books. Photo courtesy of Will Jimeno.
as a nation and as a world, and how people - total strangers - put their lives on the line to help other people. So, 20 years later, I want to remember what happened that day and those we lost, but I want to honor them by living a good life, and teaching future generations of the good that day.” Both of Jimeno’s books are available on www.amazon. com and www.bn.com, and his first book is also available at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City.
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