ray's footsteps. >> very proud. i couldn't be more proud. and i tell them all the time, your father is really smiling up there. i know it. >> reporter: chuck downeynow a deputy chief, like his father, ad joe, a battalion chief, works in his dad's old firehouse. this is your fire up here in the left? >> yes. >> reporter: where ray still has a presence. >> you always refer back to ray downey. you really do. >> reporter: but 20 years later, the downey brothers worry the rest of us might still need a remind other telephone sacrifices made by their father and the 342 other firefighters who went into those buildings that day and never came out. >> it's easy to forget. everybody says we're never going to forget. they use that term. but a lot of people do forget. and i'm not foughting them. if they're not personally connected, you could forget. >> reporter: yeah. >> so just that alone i think is part of the reason we want to give back and carry his name. and i think that goes in every firehouse. guys were friends with people that passed, and they want to keep that person's legacy alive because of their sacrifices. >> tony dokoupil reporting there. now ma

new york fire battalion chief ray downey was killed with 342 other firefighters when the twin towers collapsed. you know that that made it personal made it harder. uh it was a devastating blow. chapel homans team sifted through the massive debris pile at night. it race holding out hope they're going to find someone alive and you know, maybe as misplaced as that hope was. that's what drives your work period every but we all wanted to have that happen. the team did find solace and bringing closure to families. by your covering their loved one's remains, but the tragedy didn't end when their job was complete, he said. 70% of the crew members got sick in the months and years after some had pneumonia, skin legions, nosebleeds are worse. it was important work that we did. we're all very proud of what we did. but you know, everybody paid physical price and mental price and that's not to say that we're victims. it's just to say that you know you don't you don't get through one of these events unscathed. eight years ago, chappelle home and fell off a ladder and broke his neck. he now uses a w

new york fire battalion chief ray downey was killed with 342 other firefighters when the twin towerscollapsed. you know that that made it personal made it harder. uh it was a devastating blow. chapel homans team sifted through the massive debris pile at night. it raise holding out hope they're going to find someone alive and you know, maybe as misplaced as that hope was, that's what drives your work period every but we all wanted to have that happen. the team did find solace and bringing closure to families by recovering their loved ones were mains. but the tragedy didn't end when their job was complete, he said. 70% of the crew members got sick in the months and years after some had pneumonia, skin legions, nosebleeds are worse. it was important work that we did. we're all very proud of what we did. but you know, everybody paid physical price and mental price and that's not to say that we're victims. it's just to say that you know you don't you don't get through one of these events unscathed. eight years ago, chappelle home and fell off a ladder and broke his neck. he now uses a whe

after the south tower collapsed he and deputy fire chief ray downey moved in to help people who were. i thought my day was gone. >> is that the last thing that you remember. >> actually the last thing i remember was ray, as i look at other me as his hands up trying to help sub to come out of the lobby. >> downey was killed but even though he doesn't remember he was able to radio for help. >> this is 106 i'm stuck and i can't seem to get out. >> eventually he was carried out with severe injuries including a fractured skull he re-recovered and went to guantanamo bay cuba for the architect of the attacks. >> i remember staring at him and just looking at him and thinking what do you do. >> after 20 years spending time at home with his wife eileen, he just wanted new generation to understand what happened on september 11, don't worry too much about him. >> i have a great life my wife and my kids, whose better than me, i always say that. fuentes fire vote came in on september 11 and also on a different fire vote he was rushed away taken to a hospital just across the river in jersey city ju

and then off to the corner, i didn't get a chance to talk to him, ray downey, the head of our search and re cues team. he was the best in country and trained most of the search and rescue teams and handled a lot of search and rescue in oklahoma city. so we had the very best people there. my first question to chief againstcy, maybe because of what i had just seen was, can we get helicopters up to the roof and help any of those people? because i could see people hanging out the windows. and i thought i saw people on the roof. i didn't. i don't think. because i don't think there were any people on the roof. but at least my observation is that there were people near the top of the building. and pete pointed to a big flame that was shooting out of the north tower at the time. and he said to me, my guys can save everybody below the fire. but i can't put a helicopter above the fire. and he didn't say the rest of it. which was, do you see the flame? the helicopter would explode. but by pointing, i knew what he was saying. we was saying, if i put a helicopter near there, these flames are comi

ray. he has his hand up trying to help somebody come out of that lobby. reporter: downeyout. collapsed unit. this is captain fuentes. reporter: eventually he was carried out with severe injuries, including a fractured skull. he recovered and years later traveled to guantanamo bay, cuba, to attend a pretrial hearing for the principle architect of the attacks, khalid sheikh mohammed. >> i remember staring at him, and just, you know, just looking at him and thinking what did you do? reporter: but now after 20 years, spending time at home with his wife eileen, al fuentes wants a new generation to understand what happened on september 11th. don't worry too much about him? >> i have a great life. my wife, my kids, i mean who is better than me. i always say that, you know. who is better than me? reporter: who is better than me after all these years, that is what he says. right where i'm standing today, the north cove marina in lower manhattan where captain fuentes boat came in on september 11th. you heard him reference guantanamo bay, that trip he made was in 2013. those hearing