09/06/2026
On September 11, 2001, Father Mychal Judge had one job.
He was the chaplain of the New York City Fire Department.
When firefighters ran toward the burning World Trade Center, Mychal Judge went with them.
Not because he carried a weapon.
Not because he could fight the fire.
But because the people going inside needed someone beside them.
As chaos consumed Lower Manhattan, Judge entered the North Tower.
Inside, firefighters were preparing to climb toward the burning floors.
People were injured.
Others were dying.
Smoke filled the air.
And Mychal Judge moved through the chaos doing what he had spent his entire life doing.
He prayed with the wounded.
He comforted the terrified.
He stayed with firefighters who knew they might not come back down.
Then, at 9:59 a.m., the South Tower collapsed.
Judge was still inside the North Tower lobby.
The collapse sent a massive wave of debris through the building.
He was struck and k*lled.
He was 68 years old.
Firefighters later carried his body from the ruins.
One photograph captured the moment.
Four firefighters carrying the body of the man who had spent his final moments comforting them.
That image became one of the most haunting photographs of September 11.
Mychal Judge was later officially recorded as Victim 0001—the first person whose d*ath certificate was issued following the 9/11 attacks.
But there is something even more powerful about his final moments.
Mychal Judge spent his life going where people were suffering.
He helped the homeless.
People struggling with addiction.
People living with AIDS.
Police officers.
Firefighters.
And on the worst morning in New York City's history, he did exactly what he had always done.
He went toward the people who needed him.
The firefighters ran into the World Trade Center knowing they might d*e trying to save strangers.
Mychal Judge ran in with them...
Not to save his own life.
But to make sure they weren't alone.
