Last Saturday marked the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. People all over the world took the opportunity to commemorate the heroes we lost that day and all the people who helped in the aftermath of the attacks.
We also remembered the dogs that played a key role at Ground Zero, both in search and rescue and in providing morale to the rescue workers.
Michael Hingson, a survivor of the attacks, remembers one dog in particular that became a hero that day: his guide dog, Roselle, who led him out of the building on time.
Michael has been blind since birth, but that didn’t stop him from leading a normal life. In 2001, he led an office on the 78th floor of the World Trade Center.
He was able to move around thanks to his faithful guide Labrador Retriever, Roselle.
On September 11, Michael was going about his normal day, preparing a presentation, according to PIX 11 – until American Airlines Flight 11 hit the north tower and went up in flames.
But Roselle helped her owner stay calm during the frightening ordeal: “Roselle sat down, wagged her tail, and yawned as if to say, ‘Who woke me up?’ That helped us to try to evacuate in an orderly manner and that panicking wouldn’t help,” Michael told PIX 11.
Because they couldn’t use the elevators, the evacuating workers had to walk down over a thousand steps to escape the building.
But despite the serious situation, Michael recalls that people remained orderly – perhaps by following his calm guide dog.
“All the way down, the fact that I kept telling Roselle what a good job you’re doing helped a lot of other people because they saw that I was focused and in control of my situation,” said Michael.
Michael and his colleagues were able to leave the building at 9:15 a.m., but the misery wasn’t over. They escaped just minutes before the building collapsed and were ordered to take cover to avoid being trapped in the collapse.
“When I started running, I remember thinking, ‘God, I can’t believe you got us out of a building just to drop it on us,'” Michael told FOX 13.
The first thing I remember was hearing a voice, as clear as you hear me. A voice in my head that said, ‘Don’t worry about what you can’t control, focus on running with Roselle and the rest will take care of itself.’
With Roselle still leading the way, Michael ran and made it 100 meters before the collapse. “She did exactly what she needed to do,” Michael told PIX 11.
“While everyone was panicking and running away, Roselle remained completely focused on her job,” Michael later wrote, according to Today. “As debris fell around us, and even hit us, Roselle remained calm.”
It’s an incredible story, but Roselle wasn’t even the only guide dog to save their owner on 9/11.
Another guide dog named Salty guided his owner Omar Rivera from the 71st floor. Both dogs were hailed as heroes in the aftermath of 9/11.
They both received the PDSA’s Dickin Medal, the highest award for animal bravery, in 2002 for their service and were posthumously named American Humane’s American Hero Dog of the Year in 2011.
Roselle passed away in 2011 at the age of 14. Michael now has a new guide dog named Alamo.
But Roselle will always be remembered as a hero. Today, Michael shares her story with the world as a motivational speaker and advocate for the blind.
He says that people still find important lessons in his 9/11 story: “We must remember how it was and find ways to work together. That is something we all must do,” he told FOX 13.
What a hero. Thank you, Roselle, for guiding your owner out of the World Trade Center on that fateful day. It’s a reminder of the crucial life-saving work guide dogs do every day.
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