Scottish Firefighter Honors 343 Brothers

Derek McInnes had no idea he was in a photograph at the 9/11 Memorial Museum until friends recently pointed it out to him.

“When I first found out about the picture, I was in disbelief,” McInnes said. “I thought, ‘No way, thousands upon thousands of people run that race every year. It can’t be me.’”

But it was.

The firefighter, who lives in Glasgow, Scotland, participated in the Stephen Siller Tunnel-to-Towers run in September 2010 to honor the legacy of Siller, a firefighter who gave his life to save others on 9/11. The picture, located in the museum’s Historical Exhibition, shows McInnes running during the event.

For McInnes, being included in a museum exhibit is a tremendous honor, especially given his reasons for participating in the run in the first place: “to honor the 343 brothers we lost,” he said, referring to the number of firefighters who died on 9/11.

He hopes to come to the museum soon to see the photo for himself and to possibly complete the run for a second time. It’s “something I hope to be able to one day tell my grandkids about,” McInnes said.

If you have spotted yourself in a photo in one of the museum’s exhibitions, we would like to hear from you. Please email us at info@911memorial.org.

By Jordan Friedman, 9/11 Memorial Research and Digital Projects Associate