(Radio Iowa) – A retired lieutenant of the Fire Department of New York who was trapped twice inside the World Trade Center was the keynote speaker for Saturday night’s September 11th attacks remembrance ceremony at the Clear Lake Fire Department. Joe Torrillo was forced to retire in 2004 due to a brain injury and says while he was disappointed that his career as a firefighter was over, he wanted to help build patriotism in America.  “I wanted to be happy again. I wasn’t being selfish, but I wasn’t happy anymore. I promised myself that I would spend the rest of my life making our country the ‘Reunited States of America’.

Joe Torillo (Facebook/File photo)

Going across the country, resurrecting patriotism and keeping the memory alive of all the victims who died and those who gave their lives in the greatest rescue effort that was ever witnessed by anybody on earth.” Torrillo says he can’t understand what has happened in the 20 years since 9-11 with patriotism in the United States.

Torrillo says he wants to make sure the memory of what happened on 9-11 never fades away.

Torrillo had moved from being an active firefighter to the department’s fire safety education office in 1997 and was on his way to a press conference at the Fisher-Price headquarters in the World Trade Center when he diverted to his old fire company headquarters across the street to assist after the first plane hit. While he was involved in the rescue operation, the south tower fell, burying alive Torrillo with a fractured skull, broken ribs, broken arm, crushed spine and heavy bleeding. After finding Torrillo, he was removed from the rubble and was being treated when the north tower collapsed, burying him alive again.