New York City Police Officer who Survived 9/11 Tower Collapse Pins Shield on Grandson

After the World Trade Center’s South Tower came crashing down around his ears on 9/11, trapping him under the rubble for several hours, retired Port Authority Police Department Sgt. Conrad Krueger never returned to Ground Zero or the 9/11 Memorial & Museum — until Wednesday.

There, by the 9/11 Memorial reflecting pools, where the names of the 37 Port Authority police officers who died at the site are etched in marble for eternity, he pinned his shield on his grandson Sean, who is poised to graduate the PAPD’s academy Friday.

“I couldn’t bring myself to come back. Too many memories,” Krueger, 77, told the Daily News, following the wreath-laying ceremony in lower Manhattan at the close of the PAPD’s Shield and ID Day. “But I was so proud of my grandson, I had to come. For him to follow in my footsteps is a great honor.”

During the ceremony, Sean Krueger, 26, was given the shield number of his “Pop Pop” — 729 — which he hopes to honor as he begins his new career.

“This department is very family-oriented, and I grew up in a household where family was very important,” the young cop said. “Giving people that kind of compassion and kindness, that’s what he did. And that’s what I want to do.”

Ever since he was little, Sean’s Pop Pop has always been one of his heroes, the young cop said.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department Sgt. Conrad Krueger moments after he was pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center's South Tower after it collapsed during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“I’ve always looked up to my grandfather, not just for what he did on Sept. 11, but for how he’s carried that experience with strength and humility every day since,” he said. “Wearing his shield doesn’t just connect me to him. It connects me to a legacy of sacrifice, resilience and service.”

Sgt. Krueger was working at the Port Authority Police Academy on 9/11 when word spread that jumbo jets had slammed into the Twin Towers. He helped escort dozens of people from the South Tower in the ensuing chaos before there was “a massive explosion” and “everything started coming down on top of us,” he wrote in November 2001 as he requested commendations for several of his fallen colleagues.

He was trapped in the dark, but was able to stand. He wandered around in the pitch blackness until he and a few other officers found a way out on the tower’s West St. side.

All those memories came flooding back when he looked over the memorial on Wednesday.

“Ten of us went over to the Trade Center, and only five of us got out,” he recalled. “We lost half of the academy.”

Of the 37 PAPD officers in all who died that grim day, Krueger recalled, “I knew 90% of them personally.”

“It’s still hard for me to be here,” he reflected. “I’m still smelling it. It’s hard to explain. The memories just come back. But to see my grandson take up the shield, and to hand him mine, right here where so many of my brothers and sisters are memorialized, is an experience beyond words.”

Sean will be joining a team of 71 freshly minted police officers who will be assigned to the many airports, bus terminals, PATH trains, bridges and tunnels run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The department’s 123rd class will graduate Friday at St. Joseph High School in Metuchen, N.J.

The current graduating class was put together following one of the agency’s most intensive outreach programs to identify the most highly qualified recruits in the region. The extremely diverse group speaks nine different languages and a quarter of the recruits are women, a higher number than any previous class, agency officials said. Half the class join the PAPD with prior law enforcement experience and 13% of the recruits are military veterans.

Among the recruits is Port Authority Police Officer Keith Walcott Jr., the son of retired PAPD Deputy Chief Keith Walcott, who responded to both 9/11 and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

For former Chief Walcott, 69, pinning his badge number — 1381 — on his son’s chest was the best Father’s Day present he could ever receive.

“It’s awesome, one of the greatest gifts someone could ever give me,” he said. “It’s one of the greatest things that could happen to a father, to have his son follow in his footsteps.”

Police Officer Walcott, 30, said he’s wanted to emulate his dad for as long as he can remember.

“Ever since I was a child, I wanted to be exactly him,” the young cop said, admitting that he was pretty nervous to receive his father’s shield number.

“I was more confident to have him with me,” he said. “It was emotional. I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”

Before they get their first assignments, PAPD Superintendent of Police Edward Cetnar wanted the graduating class to gather at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum so they can reflect on the agency’s storied traditions — and sacrifices.

“It’s important to start their career on this hallowed ground, knowing the history of the Port Authority and [what] we, this city and what the nation went through,” he said. “We’re standing on the shoulders of those who have come before us as we continue that legacy.”

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