Hero
to the End "Everybody ran to the stairs," recalled Gregory Warnock,
a 20-year-old broker trainee who worked on the 39th floor of the
north tower of the World Trade Center. "We started making our way
down, landing by landing." At the 18th floor, "there was an older
fireman one floor below me. He gave me a smile. He was huffing and
puffing, laughing to himself, making a joke about his age." The
44-year-old lieutenant accepted Mr. Warnock's offer to help carry
gear up about 25 flights of stairs, and he jokingly asked if the
broker trainee was a firefighter. Told that Mr. Warnock was a broker,
"he said, 'you stay doing that, it's better money.' " "People were
coming down, saying people were trapped on the 72nd floor. He said
to me, 'Go down, you did a great job.' " Before Mr. Warnock left,
he asked the firefighter's name. "He was like, 'Gregg Atlas,' and
he bent down and flexed like Atlas the bodybuilder." Profile published
in THE NEW YORK TIMES on December 24, 2001.
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