Rescue Helmet

Saul “Sal” Garcia was born in Wareham, Massachusetts in, 1966 before relocating with his family to the Bronx, New York, at a young age. After high school, he attended Boricua College and earned an associate degree in health care services. Garcia subsequently served in the U.S. Navy for eight years before returning to New York City and re-enrolling in college, where he studied and trained in the specialized area of field medical response. After passing the state qualifying examination in the 1990s, he began working as an emergency medical technician in the Bronx, partnered with FDNY Battalion 17 and Lincoln Hospital.

On September 11, 2001, Garcia was off duty but immediately responded to the World Trade Center upon learning of the attacks and began providing triage to injured pedestrians near the North Tower. When the South Tower began to collapse at 9:59 a.m., Garcia took refuge in a nearby building and escaped the ordeal physically unscathed. Upon returning home later that day, he took off the helmet that had protected him throughout the day’s ordeal and placed it inside a bag that he then stored in a box. Garcia periodically volunteered with recovery and cleanup efforts at Ground Zero and later developed health effects likely caused by his exposure at the site. According to his family, Garcia rarely spoke candidly about his experience on 9/11 and never openly displayed the helmet again.