Twenty-five years after 9/11, firefighter Bill Spade has finally delivered a fallen NYPD officer’s last words to the family he left behind.
Spade survived the collapse of the North Tower, but he never forgot John D’Allara, an NYPD Emergency Service Unit officer he met inside the building on that terrible day.
The two men had known each other for only about 25 minutes. Yet in that incredibly short time, they spoke about their wives and children and exchanged the kind of information that could help their families if only one of them made it home.
Now, a quarter of a century later, Spade has kept the promise he made to D’Allara’s family. His sons have finally heard the words their father spoke in the final moments of his life: “I was thinking of you until the very end.”
Met inside the North Tower
Spade and D’Allara crossed paths while helping people escape the North Tower as the September 11 attacks unfolded. Neither man knew what would happen next.
Speaking with the Sun following the release of National Geographic’s documentary 9/11: Reunited, Spade recalled the conversation they shared amid the chaos.
“Well, here we are in the middle of this tragedy – one tower coming down and the other minutes away from coming down – and in a matter of moments, we’re working together, and we’re talking about our families,” he said according to UNILAD.
D’Allara, who was 47, told Spade about his wife, Carol, and their two sons, who were seven and two years old at the time. With the building around them becoming increasingly dangerous, the two men exchanged details their families might need if one of them failed to make it out alive.
