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SupportiVets1 Supporting our Vets, firefighters & LEOs. . TW & IG: SupportiVets1� Admin/Owner/creator Trish Ambern

We hope to become a hub for information and upcoming events and fundraisers for Veterans and Veteran's causes, Law Enforcement, K9 Officers, and Veterans; where people can come to SupportiVets to get this information, along with love and encouragement. Please help us by sharing your events/fundraisers with us! Also, in our notes, there is a data base of a list of 143 organizations who are dedicated to helping/supporting our U.S.Veterans to better serve you. This data base is also on our website. God Bless our U.S. veterans, soldiers and firefighters and we back the blue! Joshua 1:9, John 15:13 Isaiah 43:2

On 9/11, a dying man begged Billy Burke to save himself. Burke's answer was four words: 'This is who I am.' His name was...
09/14/2026

On 9/11, a dying man begged Billy Burke to save himself. Burke's answer was four words: 'This is who I am.'
His name was William Francis Burke Jr. He was 46.
He was an FDNY captain with Engine Company 21 in Manhattan.
On September 11, 2001, Burke led his men into the North Tower, climbing to the 27th floor.
The South Tower had just collapsed. Burke knew what that meant for the building he was standing in.
He turned to his men and gave the order.
"Keep going," he told them. "I'm right behind you."
They hesitated. They looked at his face, searching for something that would let them stay. He didn't give them the chance.
His men obeyed and started down. Burke stayed on the 27th floor with two men who had no way out on their own: Edward Beyea, a quadriplegic computer programmer, and Abraham Zelmanowitz, Beyea's close friend and colleague, who'd refused to leave his side.
Beyea's aide had already gone for help. Zelmanowitz stayed anyway.
Burke called a friend named Cathy from the floor, leaving a message just to mark where he was: "This is Captain Billy Burke, I'm on the 27th floor of the North Tower."
He made one more call, to another friend, who begged him to get out while he still could.
"Get out! Get out, Billy!" she told him.
"This is who I am," Burke said. "This is what I do."
Together, the three men made it as far as the 21st floor, working their way down slowly, before the North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m.
None of them made it out.
Burke's sister, Janet, later watched footage of her brother from that morning, captured by a documentary crew inside the tower.
"I see his beautiful blue eyes," she said. "There's resolve, there's determination."
His body was never recovered.
Billy Burke had a clear path to safety and a room full of men following his lead down the stairs.
He chose to stay with two men who had no path at all.
Rest easy, Billy.

Orio Palmer was born on March 2, 1956, in the South Bronx, one of six children in a tenement his father ran as superinte...
09/14/2026

Orio Palmer was born on March 2, 1956, in the South Bronx, one of six children in a tenement his father ran as superintendent. He joined the FDNY in the early 1980s at Engine 46 in the Bronx and rose to Battalion Chief of Battalion 7 in Manhattan. He taught promotion classes and published articles on radio communication in tall buildings. In 1989, at 33, he ran his first New York City Marathon and dedicated it to his daughter Dana on her first birthday. He was the first FDNY member to win the department's physical fitness award five times. He lived in Valley Stream, Long Island, with his wife Debbie and their three children.

At 9:03 a.m. on September 11, 2001, United Flight 175 hit the South Tower. The 78th floor was a sky lobby, a transfer point where more than 200 people had gathered for elevators after an evacuation order was given and then withdrawn. The impact killed or badly injured most of them and destroyed every elevator to that floor and every stairway but one, Stairway A. By 9:18 Palmer was in the South Tower lobby, getting a radio repeater working so chiefs could hear each other.

Palmer got a stalled elevator running and rode it with Ladder 15 to the 41st floor. From there he climbed in roughly 50 pounds of gear. At 9:32 he radioed from the 55th floor. "We're going to have to hoof it," he told the men below. By 9:45 he was on the 74th floor reporting breached walls in the B stairway and no fire. On 75 he found Fire Marshal Ron Bucca, who had climbed from the ground. At 9:52 Palmer reached the 78th floor sky lobby. He reported two isolated pockets of fire that two hose lines could knock down, then numerous dead in FDNY radio code. He called for engine companies, hose, and water. At 9:56 he learned some of his men were trapped by fire in the B stairway. His last confirmed transmission came at 9:58. At 9:59 the South Tower collapsed. Palmer, Bucca, Lt. Joseph Leavey, and the men of Ladder 15 died inside.

Afterward the FDNY believed no rescuer had climbed above the 50th floor of either tower. In 2002 recordings of the radio channel were discovered. They stayed classified until 2005, when a New York Times Freedom of Information lawsuit forced their release. Producers for Oprah and Anderson Cooper asked Debbie Palmer for interviews. She turned them all down to raise her children. The FDNY renamed its physical fitness award for him, streets carry his name, and his voice plays in the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

Debbie Palmer died in 2021. Their children, Dana, Keith, and Alyssa, run the Orio Palmer Foundation, which supports firefighters and their families. Seven grandchildren live on Long Island. Today, September 11, 2026, marks 25 years. His 78th floor transmissions are circulating online again this week, still calm, still asking for water.

Seven minutes from the end, he was still asking for water.

FDNY Battalion Chief Orio Palmer reached the 78th floor of the burning South Tower with 50 pounds of gear on his back, f...
09/14/2026

FDNY Battalion Chief Orio Palmer reached the 78th floor of the burning South Tower with 50 pounds of gear on his back, found people still alive, and started pulling them out.

Seven minutes later, the entire tower collapsed on him.

It was September 11, 2001.

Palmer was 45.

Chief of FDNY Battalion 7.

A 20-year fire department veteran.

A husband to Debbie.

A father to Dana, Alyssa, and Keith.

At 9:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175 slammed into the South Tower.

The impact tore through floors 77 to 85.

People were trapped above it.

Others were lying injured inside the impact zone.

Firefighters started climbing.

Palmer went with them.

An elevator carried him to the 41st floor.

Then the ride ended.

Thirty-seven floors remained.

Palmer started climbing them on foot.

He carried roughly 50 pounds of equipment.

Air tank.

Protective gear.

Tools.

Everything pulling against him.

People were moving down.

Palmer kept moving up.

The South Tower had 110 floors.

The impact zone was still far above.

He kept climbing.

Palmer had spent years training his body.

He ran marathons.

He worked out constantly.

He had completed the New York City Marathon multiple times.

Now none of that training was about fitness.

It was about reaching people before time ran out.

Firefighter Ronald Bucca was climbing too.

Most rescuers were still far below them.

Then Palmer reached the 78th-floor sky lobby.

He was inside the impact zone.

The damage was severe.

People had been waiting there for express elevators when Flight 175 hit nearby.

Some were already d*ad.

Others were badly injured.

Some were still trapped.

Palmer got on the radio.

He reported numerous casualties.

Then he reported something nobody outside could see.

Two isolated pockets of fire.

That was it.

Palmer believed firefighters could knock them down with two hose lines.

He was standing in one of the most dangerous places in America.

His response was still simple.

Get water up.

Put the fire out.

Help the people.

Then Palmer found civilians trapped inside an elevator.

He and the firefighters with him started working to free them.

The clock kept moving.

9:52 a.m.

Palmer was on the 78th floor.

9:58 a.m.

People were being helped out of the elevator.

Palmer stayed.

One minute remained.

He did not know that.

Nobody inside did.

At home, Debbie still had a husband.

Dana, Alyssa, and Keith still had their father.

To them, Orio was not Battalion Chief Palmer.

He was the “Music Man.”

He always had music playing.

He took neighborhood kids fishing.

He played stickball.

He made up ridiculous dances for his daughters.

That was the man standing on the 78th floor trying to get strangers out.

Then 9:59 a.m. arrived.

The South Tower collapsed.

Palmer was still inside.

So was Ronald Bucca.

So were firefighters still climbing toward them.

Palmer d*ed in the collapse.

The FDNY lost 343 members that day.

He was one of them.

But recordings later revealed exactly how far Palmer had made it.

He had reached the impact zone.

He had found victims.

He had assessed the fires.

He had started freeing trapped people.

He was still working.

Still giving instructions.

Still trying to solve the problem.

Then the building disappeared beneath him.

Seven minutes.

That was the time between Orio Palmer reaching the 78th floor and the South Tower collapsing.

Seven minutes to find survivors.

Seven minutes to report the fires.

Seven minutes to free people from an elevator.

Seven minutes before Debbie lost her husband.

Seven minutes before three children lost their father.

FDNY Battalion Chief Orio Palmer spent every one of them trying to get somebody else home.

From Dandrige, TN Police Dept..Our Department along with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the White Pine Police...
12/10/2025

From Dandrige, TN Police Dept..

Our Department along with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the White Pine Police Department, was honored to participate in the Jefferson County Scottish Rite Shoes for Kids program at the Brazelton Masonic Lodge. Together, we delivered shoes to more than 500 deserving children across Jefferson County.

What an amazing event! A huge thank-you to everyone who helped make this day possible—your dedication and generosity truly make a difference in our community.

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Jefferson City, TN

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