Nick Marconi

The Dog Who Wouldn't Stop Searching On September 11, 2001, Apollo disappeared into a hole in the rubble at Ground Zero. Then a fireball erupted. Seconds later, the German Shepherd came running back toward his handler, NYPD Officer Peter Davis. Apollo was on fire. Davis brushed the burning embers from his thick coat. And Apollo went right back to searching. Apollo was nine years old—an age when many police dogs had already retired. But that morning, he and Davis became the first canine search-and-rescue team to arrive at Ground Zero. The conditions were brutal. To reach the rubble, Davis later recalled wading through water that came nearly to his waist. Apollo searched across jagged concrete and dangerously hot debris. His coat was singed. His paws became cracked and bruised. Still, he searched. Apollo had been trained to find the living. But as the hours passed, the terrible reality of the site became clearer. Eventually, Davis had to physically pull Apollo away from the debris when the dog refused to stop looking. And Apollo wasn't alone. Search-and-rescue dogs and their handlers worked through wreckage, dust and toxic fumes in the aftermath of the attacks. Apollo became a symbol of all of them. On March 5, 2002, he was awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal for courage and devotion to duty. Apollo had been selected by ballot to receive the honor on behalf of every search-and-rescue dog that had worked at the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Apollo lived to be 14. Twenty-five years later, we remember the people who ran toward danger that morning. Apollo reminds us that not all of them ran on two legs. ❤️🐾