Boots
Photo credit: 9/11 Memorial staff
Accession Number: C.2021.18.1
Dimensions: 10 in X 4.5 in X 12 in
Dimensions (Metric): 25.4 cm X 11.43 cm X 30.48 cm
Dimensions (Metric): 25.4 cm X 11.43 cm X 30.48 cm
Source: John J. McLoughlin
Credit Line: Gift of John McLoughlin
Keywords
Collapse
Evacuation
First Responders
Health Effects
Port Authority Police Department (PAPD)
Rescue and Recovery
Survivors
Worn or Used on 9/11
Collapse
Evacuation
First Responders
Health Effects
Port Authority Police Department (PAPD)
Rescue and Recovery
Survivors
Worn or Used on 9/11
Description
Pair of Rocky brand men's black leather boots. The boots are worn and damaged, and the soles are completely deteriorated.
Pair of Rocky brand men's black leather boots. The boots are worn and damaged, and the soles are completely deteriorated.
Historical Notes
Boots worn by 9/11 first responder and survivor, PAPD Sgt. John McLoughlin.
Boots worn by 9/11 first responder and survivor, PAPD Sgt. John McLoughlin.
Curator's Comment
PAPD officers throughout the World Trade Center complex mobilized as soon as hijacked Flight 11 struck the North Tower. Members of the department at posts elsewhere in the city and in New Jersey arrived on the scene soon thereafter. Sergeant John McLoughlin, a veteran member of the PAPD, took charge of the 9/11 response with officers mobilized from the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Tactile Response Bureau, including Officers William Jimeno, Christopher Charles Amoroso, Dominick A. Pezzulo, and Antonio José Rodrigues. The men were transporting emergency equipment through the belowground World Trade Center concourse when the South Tower collapsed above them. Trapped under steel beams and rubble, Amoroso and Rodrigues were unresponsive. McLoughlin was stuck in a crevice. Pezzulo, able to extricate himself, tried to free Jimeno, who lay pinned beneath a concrete slab. Then the North Tower collapsed, crushing McLoughlin’s legs. Fatally injured, Pezzulo nevertheless fired his gun, hoping to alert rescuers.
Hours passed as Jimeno and McLoughlin slipped in and out of consciousness. Jimeno tried banging on a pipe with his hands and shooting his gun to attract rescuers, but to no avail. Around 8:00 p.m., he heard the voices of two U.S. Marines searching for survivors. Jimeno called out to them, enabling the U.S. Marines to locate him and McLoughlin. Later that night, NYPD Detective Scott Straus, who was alerted to the initial discovery, managed to reach their buried location with NYPD officer Paddy McGee and paramedic Chuck Sereika. That rescue team finally extricated Jimeno around 11:00 p.m.
By the time Sgt. McLoughlin was rescued, he had been trapped for twenty-two hours and was experiencing symptoms of Crush Syndrome, a condition characterized by major shock and kidney failure after an injury caused by severe compression. McLoughlin’s resulting trauma was severe. He spent several months in the hospital and underwent numerous surgeries to address his grave, multiple medical issues. He would undergo years of physical therapy to rehabilitate his leg muscles.
Nearly 20 years after 9/11, McLoughlin agreed to donate his damaged boots to the Museum. They had never been worn again after being removed from his feet following his rescue.
HIDE
PAPD officers throughout the World Trade Center complex mobilized as soon as hijacked Flight 11 struck the North Tower. Members of the department at posts elsewhere in the city and in New Jersey arrived on the scene soon thereafter. Sergeant John McLoughlin, a veteran member of the PAPD, took charge of the 9/11 response with officers mobilized from the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Tactile Response Bureau, including Officers William Jimeno, Christopher Charles Amoroso, Dominick A. Pezzulo, and Antonio José Rodrigues. The men were transporting emergency equipment through the belowground World Trade Center concourse when the South Tower collapsed above them. Trapped under steel beams and rubble, Amoroso and Rodrigues were unresponsive. McLoughlin was stuck in a crevice. Pezzulo, able to extricate himself, tried to free Jimeno, who lay pinned beneath a concrete slab. Then the North Tower collapsed, crushing McLoughlin’s legs. Fatally injured, Pezzulo nevertheless fired his gun, hoping to alert rescuers.
Hours passed as Jimeno and McLoughlin slipped in and out of consciousness. Jimeno tried banging on a pipe with his hands and shooting his gun to attract rescuers, but to no avail. Around 8:00 p.m., he heard the voices of two U.S. Marines searching for survivors. Jimeno called out to them, enabling the U.S. Marines to locate him and McLoughlin. Later that night, NYPD Detective Scott Straus, who was alerted to the initial discovery, managed to reach their buried location with NYPD officer Paddy McGee and paramedic Chuck Sereika. That rescue team finally extricated Jimeno around 11:00 p.m.
By the time Sgt. McLoughlin was rescued, he had been trapped for twenty-two hours and was experiencing symptoms of Crush Syndrome, a condition characterized by major shock and kidney failure after an injury caused by severe compression. McLoughlin’s resulting trauma was severe. He spent several months in the hospital and underwent numerous surgeries to address his grave, multiple medical issues. He would undergo years of physical therapy to rehabilitate his leg muscles.
Nearly 20 years after 9/11, McLoughlin agreed to donate his damaged boots to the Museum. They had never been worn again after being removed from his feet following his rescue.
HIDE
