Michael Hingson has been blind since birth. On September 11, 2001, that had nothing to do with why he made it out of the World Trade Center’s North Tower alive — his guide dog, Roselle, did.
A Normal Morning, Until 8:46 AM
Hingson, a regional sales manager, arrived at his office on the 78th floor of Tower One that morning after commuting in from Westfield, New Jersey. He’d ordered a large breakfast spread for a seminar he was hosting and had just sat back down at his desk when, at 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 struck the tower roughly 15 to 18 floors above him, according to PIX11.
Roselle, a yellow Labrador Retriever who’d been asleep under his desk, was his first read on how serious the situation actually was. “Roselle was sitting, wagging her tail and yawning like, ‘Who woke me up?'” Hingson recalled. “That told me that we could try to evacuate in an orderly way and panicking wasn’t going to help.”
1,463 Steps Down
With elevators out of service, Hingson and his colleague David Frank walked their seminar guests to the stairwell, swept the office for stragglers, and began the descent — 1,463 steps in total, according to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
Hingson credits his calm, and Roselle’s, with helping steady the people around them too. “All the way down the stairs, the fact that I kept telling Roselle what a good job you’re doing helped a lot of other people, because they saw me focusing and being in charge of my situation,” he said.
Partway down, the pair passed firefighters heading up into the building to help others — and according to multiple accounts of that day, Roselle paused to greet each one warmly despite the chaos. Hingson later reflected that for some of them, it may have been “probably the last unconditional love he got in his life.”
Out — With Almost No Time to Spare
Hingson and his colleagues reached the street by around 9:15 a.m. The ordeal wasn’t over: Tower Two had already been hit and was starting to collapse, and bystanders urged everyone to run for cover. “I actually remember thinking, ‘God, I can’t believe you got us out of a building just to have it fall on us,'” Hingson later said. Roselle led him into a subway entrance for shelter. They emerged as Tower One came down, then walked roughly 40 blocks together to reach a friend’s apartment — with Hingson recalling that along the way, they even helped guide another woman who’d been blinded by debris.
“While everyone ran in panic, Roselle remained totally focused on her job,” Hingson later wrote. “While debris fell around us, and even hit us, Roselle stayed calm.”
Not the Only Hero That Day
Hingson and Roselle weren’t the only blind survivor-and-guide-dog pair to make it out. Omar Rivera and his guide dog Salty escaped together from the 71st floor of the same tower. Both dogs were awarded the Dickin Medal in 2002 — the highest award for animal bravery, sometimes called “the animal Victoria Cross” — with their joint citation praising them for “remaining loyally at the side of their blind owners, courageously leading them down more than 70 floors of the World Trade Centre and to a place of safety.” Roselle was later named American Humane’s American Hero Dog of the Year in 2011.
Life After 9/11
In the weeks that followed, Hingson found himself fielding interview requests from Larry King, Regis and Kelly, and Bryant Gumbel. “They were looking for something positive that came out of the tragedy,” he said. He eventually returned to California to work for Guide Dogs for the Blind — the organization that trained Roselle — and in 2011 published Thunder Dog: The Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero, detailing their experience.
Roselle lived until 2011, passing away at 14 after some years managing an autoimmune condition called immune-mediated thrombocytopenia. Hingson has since worked with several successor guide dogs and continues speaking publicly on leadership, trust, and disability inclusion — with Roselle’s story remaining central to that work through the Roselle’s Dream Foundation, which he founded in her name.
“We need to remember what that was like and find ways to work together,” Hingson has said of why he keeps sharing the story two decades later. “All of us need to do that.”
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Dickin Medal, and how rare is it? It’s the highest award for animal bravery, established in the UK in 1943 and often compared to the Victoria Cross for humans — it’s been awarded to a relatively small number of animals over the decades, mostly military and service animals.
Did Michael Hingson continue working with guide dogs after Roselle? Yes — he has had multiple guide dogs since Roselle’s passing in 2011 and continues to be an active advocate for guide dog training organizations and disability inclusion more broadly.
Were there other service or rescue dogs recognized for their work on 9/11? Yes — alongside Roselle and Salty, search-and-rescue dogs working at Ground Zero were also recognized for their service, including a NYPD dog honored on behalf of the broader search and rescue dog community.
Sources: PIX11, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the American Kennel Club, and DogHeirs, cited above.
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