The shot seen around the world: How an amateur photographer captured the ultimate sacrifice of FDNY heroes on 9/11

Amateur photographer Aaron McLamb took a photo of Ladder 118 fire truck crossing the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan during the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the World Trade Center’s twin towers. The image has come to symbolize the bravery and sacrifice of that terrible day - (Aaron McLamb)

Aaron McLamb was cleaning a bookbinding machine in a Brooklyn factory when he happened to glance out a window and see history unfolding on the morning of September 11, 2001.

Then a 20-year-old volunteer at the headquarters of the Jehovah's Witnesses, McLamb recalled that he momentarily turned away from his work and noticed a “very large fire” in the north tower of the World Trade Center, across the East River in lower Manhattan.