{"id":1037801,"date":"2026-09-02T00:20:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T00:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1037801\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T00:20:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T00:20:19","slug":"nyc-firefighters-recall-josephine-harris-the-guardian-angel-who-helped-them-survive-9-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1037801\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC firefighters recall Josephine Harris, the \u2018guardian angel\u2019 who helped them survive 9\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"

She has been dead for many years now, not from anything related to 9\/11, because they saved her that day.<\/a><\/p>\n

But to hear the firefighters who pulled Josephine Harris from the World Trade Center rubble<\/a> on Sept. 11, 2001 tell it, she was the one who saved them.<\/p>\n

All six of them.<\/p>\n

\"FDNYFDNY firefighter and survivors of \u201cMiracle of Stairwell B\u201d (L-R) Lt Matt Komorowski, FF Tom Falco, FF Sal D\u2019Agostino, Chief Jay Jonas, Capt Billy Butler, FF Mike Meldrum pose for a photo after a ceremony returning the jacket that was presented to Josephine Harris by members of Engine 9 – Ladder 6 who survived together in Stairwell B of the North Tower on Sept. 11, 2001 back to Engine 9- Ladder 6 on Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2026 in Manhattan. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe considered Josephine our guardian angel,\u201d said Sal D\u2019Agostino, one of the six firefighters who crossed paths with Harris on Stairwell B.<\/p>\n

When the south tower collapsed that morning, Ladder Company 6 from Chinatown got the order to pull out of the north tower. On the 20th floor, they spotted a weary Harris, who had suffered an unrelated leg injury days earlier, and needed help getting down the stairs.<\/p>\n

At about the eighth floor, the north tower collapsed on top of them.<\/p>\n

What happened next is the stuff they make movies about. The stairwell they were on \u2014 Stairwell B \u2014 withstood the collapse,<\/a> even as steel and concrete rained around them.<\/p>\n

Had Harris been able to walk any faster, they reasoned, they all would have died.<\/p>\n

\"September(L-R) Thelma Johnson, Denise Johnson, Elaina Josephine D\u2019Agostino, Salvatore D\u2019Agostino, Alacia D\u2019Agostino, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2026 in Manhattan. Firefighter D\u2019Agostino named his daughter Elaina Josephine D\u2019Agostino after Morris after she was born 9 lbs. 11 Oz. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201dWithout us, Josephine would not have made it. And we feel without Josephine we would have died,\u201d D\u2019Agostino said. \u201cShe slowed us down just enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were others, including firefighters, who passed them on the stairwell, who never made it out. Harris finally had to stop and rest, and told the others to go on without her. They didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

It was then, D\u2019Agostino said, that the building came down around them.<\/p>\n

\u201dIf she doesn\u2019t do that, we would have been dead,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were buried, and we were trapped for over five hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, with the 25th anniversary approaching, Harris\u2019 family returned a special FDNY jacket that members of Ladder 6 gave to Josephine in appreciation years ago, and thanked the firefighters who survived with her that day and the department for always being part of their lives.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe jacket that was presented to Josephine Harris by members of Engine 9 – Ladder 6 who survived together in Stairwell B of the North Tower on Sept. 11, 2001 is pictured in a frame in the Engine 9- Ladder 6 firehouse on Sept. 1, 2026 in Manhattan. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

The jacket is now in a frame and will be put on display for all to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeneration after generation can see and know what the jacket meant,\u201d her sister, Thelma Johnson, said. \u201cIt was a significant part of our world after she passed away. With the jacket, we thought the public could see it, the school kids could see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson said that after the towers collapsed, hours passed before she was able to reach Harris.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m calling my sister. I got no response,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cAnd I kept calling. Finally she picked up and she said, \u2018I\u2019m in the hospital. I\u2019m not doing too well.\u2019 But as the story went, she was stuck in that building, and the six guys who were there. They saved each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SeptemberSeptember 11th survivor FDNY firefighter Tom Falco talks with Josephine Harris\u2019 sister Thelma Johnson Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2026 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

On the fifth anniversary of the attack, in 2006, the History Channel aired a documentary about the rescue called, \u201cThe Miracle of Stairway B.\u201d<\/p>\n

A week before she died, Harris appeared with the firefighters in a show on the Oprah Winfrey Network.<\/p>\n

Harris briefly returned to work after 9\/11,\u00a0 but found it difficult because of an injury that day. She stopped working after her job was moved to Newark, her family said. Harris, a widow, eked out a living on disability assistance.<\/p>\n

When Harris, 69, suffered a heart attack<\/a> in her Bushwick home and died in 2011, her six saviors \u2014 D\u2019Agostino, Matt Komorowski, Mike Meldrum, Bill Butler and Tommy Falco and John Jonas \u2014 were called back into duty, this time as pallbearers, lifting her again when she could walk no more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She has been dead for many years now, not from anything related to 9\/11, because they saved her…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1037802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,2451,3059,5295,1370,728,405,403,5294,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,5293,5321,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1037801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sub-county-region","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117198589372992195","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1037801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1037802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1037801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1037801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1037801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}