911 Dog Hero? The James Crane Story

ALLEGEDLY - James Crane worked on the 101st floor of Tower 1 of the World Trade Center .. He is blind so he has a golden retriever named Daisy.

After the plane hit 20 stories below, James knew that he was doomed, so he let Daisy go, out of an act of love. She darted away into the darkened hallway.

Choking on the fumes of the jet fuel and the smoke James was just waiting to die. About 30 minutes later, Daisy comes back along with James' boss,
Who Daisy just happened to pick up on floor 112. (?) I thought there were only 110 floors....



On her first run of the building, she leads James, James' boss, and about 300 more people out of the doomed building.

But she wasn't through yet, she knew there were others who were trapped. So, highly against James' wishes she ran back in the building. On her second run, she saved 392 lives. Again she went back in. During this run, the building collapses. James hears about this and falls on his knees into tears.

Against all known odds, Daisy makes it out alive, but this time she is carried by a firefighter. "She led us right to the people, before she got injured" the fireman explained. Her final run saved another 273 lives. She suffered acute smoke inhalation, severe burns on all four paws, and a broken leg, but she saved 967 lives. Daisy is the first civilian Canine to win the Medal of Honor of New York City.

It's a tear jerker - but is it true?

This email circulated right after the tragic 911 day. And it has resurfaced. Try as I might, I have not been able to locate a single published news story mentioning a World Trade Center survivor named James Crane. And though there were indeed many canine heroes who participated in rescue operations at Ground Zero after the September 11 terrorist attack, I could find no golden retriever named Daisy listed among them.

ALL THAT SAID, there were at least four real-life examples of guide dogs escorting their blind owners out of the burning twin towers to safety. Roselle, a Labrador retriever, led Michael Hingson down from the 78th floor of the north tower and to the home of a friend several blocks away. Dorado, also a Labrador, guided Omar Rivera down 70 flights of stairs, an ordeal that lasted over an hour but ended with both man and dog a safe distance from the towers when they collapsed. - also - "Salty" another guide dog, was also awarded the medal for guiding his owner from the WTC. New York Police dog, "Appollo" was another to receive the medal on behalf of Ground Zero Search and Rescue dogs. Although these animal heroes helped to save lives on 9/11, none of them repeatedly returned alone to the building to lead hundreds of people to safety.