Channel 4 (UK) Documentaries

The Lost Hero of 9/11 (2013x47)

Air date: Sep 03, 2013

When the twin towers collapsed almost everyone underneath them was killed. But two men were trapped, buried alive, 30 feet deep, under the rubble pile. As fires raged around them, the official rescue effort had been suspended, and they thought they were going to die. Until they heard a voice shouting “US Marine Corps – can anybody hear me.” This man then climbed down and saved them. Incredibly he then disappeared without a trace. His identity remained a mystery… Directed by British filmmaker Steve Humphries, for the first time 9/11: Lost Hero reveals the full and extraordinary true story of modest hero, Jason Thomas: a law student and former member of the US Marine Corps who after witnessing the attack on the first tower, put on his old uniform and drove 30 miles to Ground Zero to save lives. Not wanting any notoriety – or his wife finding out that he had risked his life – Jason vanished from the scene quickly after his heroic mission. It was only years later when he was watching TV when he saw a trailer for a Hollywood movie called World Trade Centre, did he realise his story had not gone unnoticed. Except for one crucial detail…the actor playing him was white – and Jason is black. Intersecting remarkable unseen footage of Jason running towards the scene with the personal testimonies of those he saved, Steve Humphries’ latest documentary provides a new and in-depth insight in to one of 9/11’s most extraordinary rescues and the man that made it possible.