Retired Marine, 9/11 Hero Speaks To Laurel Church About Rescue - WMDT 47 News - Delmarva's Choice

LAUREL, Del. - David Karnes, a retired Marine is a hero.    

On September 11th, he made his way to Ground Zero and rescued two trapped Port Authority Police officers.

"John McLoughlin, he was extricated, he was literally the last man pulled out alive from the World Trade Center collapse."    

Actor Michael Shannon played Karnes in the 2006 movie World Trade Center.

"When I got to the towers, I ran into some firefighters. They had told me that Tower 7 had just collapsed and I said, 'Has anybody been conducting rescue operations in the debris field at the epicenter of the collapse?' and they said that, 'No Marine, if you go in there you're going to die.'"

Five years after these events, Oliver Stone's film hit theaters. Karnes admits events that day, for him, were much different from the movie.

"I went to my office and I closed the door and I went to God in earnest prayer for about two hours and God put it on my heart to go down to the World Trade Center and he would lead me to anyone in need of rescue.

"[The film] it is what it is. Had they consulted me , I'm sure the movie would be a little different, but it's Hollywood and maybe they wouldn't have given God the proper glory for it."         

But his story isn't a movie: it's his life.    

A story he's proud to share as he remembers it.