Eight years have passed since that day, a day we all remember where we were and what we were doing when we heard the news. So many lives killed, thankfully not as many as the initial estimates, but still so many lives, souls and people that it’s simply beyond comprehension. People generally have a difficult time processing large numbers and do better with individual stories. That is part of why I chose to participate this year in Project 2,996, in which bloggers memorialize some of these lives lost.
John William Perry was a police officer who, while not at the World Trade Center himself when the planes hit the towers, ran to Ground Zero to do what he could to help and gave his life trying to rescue people from the towers. Perry had graduated from New York University Law School and had been an activist in the ACLU and Libertarian Party, with a particular focus in the war on drugs and how misguided it is.
Incredibly, I did not choose John William Perry as my person, I was assigned to memorialize him, yet I had already independently come across a memorial site to him… a site in which he is remembered by a friend, as a good friend and a good person– “John Perry was one of my best friends and one of my all-time favorite people… He has made me laugh so much. I still miss him. I always will.” When you think about it, there aren’t too many higher, or more heartfelt, compliments someone could hope to receive beyond those simple yet important accolades, but I’ll try.
I came across Perry through a Google search because he was a libertarian and because he was interested in things libertarians in general are often interested in, such as cryonics. He was a member of the Libertarian Party and planned to run for office as a Libertarian, and like many libertarians, he believed in the power of private, unforced giving and practiced it.
Perry was also remarkable in other ways that are immediately evident to anyone reading about him. He was a police officer who obviously chose to be a police officer, who had graduated from a top law school and could have easily had a different career. He spoke multiple languages fluently, including Swedish, French, Spanish, and Russian (and was learning Albanian when he died!) He was a member of the National Guard and an avid volunteer, for the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children and as a board member for the New York Civil Liberties Union, which won so many important battles against Rudy Giuliani during those years. His regard for other people did not stop at the New York City area or even America’s borders: he donated bulletproof vests to Russian police officers who lacked equipment.
As a police officer based in the Bronx, he stood against police brutality, racial profiling, vice laws, gun control, the War on Drugs, police corruption, and other abuses of power.
September 11th was going to be an eventful day in Perry’s life no matter what; it was to be his last day as a police officer, and he was signing his retirement papers and turning in his badge at 1 Police Plaza when he heard the news and rushed to the World Trade Center a few blocks away. He refused to leave the building while civilians were still in it who needed his assistance. Eyewitnesses said Perry was in the midst of helping a middle-aged woman who had fainted from a heart or asthma attack when the south tower collapsed above him.
Perry is memorialized at his alma mater, SUNY-Stonybrook, along with other classmates and alums who perished in the twin towers. The town of Hempstead, in Long Island, named a street John W. Perry Avenue in the officer’s honor. At the 2002 National Libertarian Party convention, he was given a lifetime achievement award.
If you would like to help remember John W. Perry and his bravery that day, as well as do your part to help a cause he believed in, you can make a donation to the John W. Perry Fund in his honor. The fund gives scholarships to students who have been prevented by a 1998 federal bill from receiving any financial aid or even taking work-study jobs to get through school, due to even minor (non-violent) drug possession charges.
Officer Perry was survived by his parents, Patricia and James, siblings Janice and Joel, and nephew Jimmy. While Perry had an interest and hope in the possibilities of cryonics that was also sadly cut off by the September 11th murderers, it is a certainty that the memory of John William Perry’s life and heroism will remain in the minds of many, and will live on in the future through the actions and dreams of those inspired by his giving spirit.
Thanks so much for both of these posts memorializing a 9/11 victim in the 2,996 Project. I reposted on my high school classmate who died in the World Trade Center. I appreciate you picking up these two libertarian folks from the list. Nice job on both – I’ll bet their families would be pleased!
Abel Pharmboy
September 12th, 2009