Michael Hingson is a survivor of the terrorist attack that took place on 9/11, 2001. Thanks to his seeing-eye dog, the man stayed alive.
Michael is blind from birth. But it didn’t prevent him to live a full life. He worked on the 78th floor of the World Trade Center and ran an office. As Michael is blind, he had a seeing-eye dog Roselle that led him everywhere.
This Labrador Retriever was smart and loyal. She was helping the man to move and get around in the office. Michael completely trusted Roselle.
And he was not wrong as during the scary and fiery collapse of the World Trade Center Roselle was the only one that was willing to rescue her owner.
On September 11, it was a normal day. The man was preparing for a presentation and his dog was fallen asleep.
When the North Tower started burning after American Airlines Flight 11 stuck into it, Roselle woke up. However, the dog stayed calm.
During the process of evacuating this dog didn’t take a step of panic. She was calmly leading Michael down the building for thousands of ladders because elevators didn’t work.
Michael tells how many people trusted Roselle at that time and followed her calm lead. On the way to escape Michael kept on saying good words to his dog.
Fortunately, Michael and his colleagues made it out of the center by 9:15 AM but it was not the end of the danger. They were out minutes before the collapse of the building.
Michael and others were told to run as far as possible for not to be caught in the fiery collapse.
So they began to run. The man remembers that he was talking to God while running saying, ”God, I can’t believe you got us out of a building just to have it fall on us.”
And a voice answered him not to worry about what he can’t control but to focus on running with Roselle.
People led by the dog ran 100 yards away before the collapse.
Roselle and another seeing eye dog Salty that was also leading people out of the building were rewarded the highest medals that animals can receive. They received many praises and attention.
Rosselle passed away in 2011. Michael adopted another dog that helps him in his everyday life. However, this man will never forget the Roselle – the hero dog!
