World Trade Center

I just returned from having viewed Oliver Stone's World Trade Center.

I must admit some amount of trepidation considering Mr. Stone's history and his remarks following the massive flop Alexander. Stone insulted his audience then by chalking those of us in the United States as, essentially, dung-eating beetles for failing to recognize the brilliance of casting Colin Farrell (with his horrible dye-job) as the overtly homosexual conquerer. Oliver Stone threatened (like the brilliant actor Alec Baldwin) to move to France due to America's inherent homophobia. Huh.

Both persons are still, oddly, living in the United States (Johnny Depp did, in fact, move to France; he evidently means what he says).

World Trade Center is much different; instead of taking a wider perspective Stone narrows the range and enables us to greatly care and feel for his characters. Despite this I cannot help but wonder how this film would have been handled by other directors; at its conclusion I felt that Stone somehow -- I don't know -- somehow held back. I freely admit to a bit of a bias against Stone considering his background and his past remarks.

The story delves into the rescue of two of the 20 persons pulled from the wreckage of the WTC, survivors number 18 and 19, New York Port Authority Police Sgt. John McLoughlin and Officer Will Jimeno, portrayed by Nicholas Cage and Michael Pena respectively.

THE TRUE HERO:

In my opinion, however, the movie's true star is a man showcased for a time and then forgotten, David Karnes. Who is David Karnes? I did not know, until I watched the film.

USMC Staff Sgt. David W. Karnes is one man who stood up and, by doing so, made the ultimate difference between life and death. One man, one person, can still make a difference in this country and so it was with this incredible Hero.



David Karnes, at 43, watched the fall of the World Trade Center on 9-11-2001, like most of us.

A former Marine and then an accountant in Connecticut, Karnes did this:

I stopped to get a high-and-tight haircut at the local barbershop, then traveled toward my home in Wilton to throw on a pair of starched cammies (camouflage fatigues)I had hanging in my closet. I then stopped at my storage unit on Long Island to grab some basic 782 and rappelling gear, and then started on what is normally a 45-minute drive toward the World Trade Center.

"I was traveling down the closed parkway in my car at a very aggressive speed,” Karnes explained. “Funny thing is that two weeks prior to the attack, I bought a used car— ironically, it was a Porsche 911 . The cops that had checkpoints all up that route waved me through because I had the top down on my car and they could see that I was a Marine with intentions to get to the site.”

Upon arriving at the site where the towers once stood, Karnes immediately noticed a group of fireman as well as a handful of military service members like himself. Karnes found a search-and-rescue buddy in another Marine on the scene whom he knows only as “Sgt. Thomas.”

“I asked Thomas and the others if anyone has been in the center of the collapse area where the two towers stood,” Karnes admitted. “He said no because the authorities won't let anyone near that area, so I asked him if he would take a walk over there with me.”

The rest is now history.

Karnes, a civilian disguised as a military man, breached the various lines surrounding the towers and, with a legitimate military man of rank, managed to locate the area where both Port Authority officers had been buried under tons of precarious debris.

Both PA officers, following numerous surgeries, subsequently retired but lived to enjoy their families and their futures.

And Staff Sgt. David Karnes?

He re-enlisted and served two tours in Iraq.

__________________


BZ