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Many Americans might recognize Joe Hunter's face from CNN footage on Sept. 11, in which he's seen looking into the camera, then up at the building, and heading toward the doomed tower. Hunter's childhood friend and fellow volunteer firefighter Joe Remy knows that's the last glimpse he'll have of his friend alive. But another image comes to mind for Remy: A photo of Hunter as a baby, holding a toy fire truck.

Remy remembers Hunter as a kid--he always pretended to be a firefighter. Once Hunter turned 18, he joined the volunteer fire department in his hometown of South Hempstead, N.Y. But it was as a member of the New York City Fire Department's elite eight-man Squad 288--the one trained to respond to terrorism--that Hunter was at the twin towers. "They were having coffee and saw it happen, and rushed to the scene," recalls Remy. "We lost all of them."