On September 11, 2001, we saw some of the most inspiring examples of bravery we could ever possibly see. These incidences that showed courage, however, were not only inspiring. They were heartbreaking. Some were running into the towers as they burned and collapsed, while most everyone else was running out. And many of these brave patriots didn’t come back out.

Here are some moving tributes to those heroes from Lagniappe’s Lair:

NYPD Officer Moira Smith was the first officer to get on the radio and report the first jet strike on the Twin Towers. She stayed and worked to free victims until the towers came down. She was 38 and left behind a husband–also NYPD–and a two-year-old daughter.

Fire Marshal Ronald Bucca didn’t have to enter the towers that day. It wasn’t his job. But he couldn’t ignore all of those victims, and he was one of the firefighters who’d made it all the way to the 78th floor of the South Tower–one floor below the impact area–when the tower collapsed.

Also killed on that day was FBI Special Agent Leonard Hatton. He wasn’t even tasked with responding to this disaster but he did. He entered the World Trade Center towers to help evacuate people even though it wasn’t his job. He was trapped and killed when the tower collapsed.

And like Special Agent Hatton, Secret Service Master Special Officer Craig Miller rushed in to help, running towards the nightmare instead of away from it. He also gave his life trying to evacuate people when the towers fell.

US Fish and Wildlife Service Refuge Manager Richard Guadagno was aboard Flight 93, which crashed and burned in a Pennsylvania field while enroute to another target in Washington DC. Richard was a sworn law enforcement officer, and we can only wonder what he’d have been able to do had he been allowed to carry his firearm aboard that airliner on that fateful day. Perhaps there’d have been one less crashed airliner. Sadly, we’ll never know.

Additionally, Sirius, a Port Authority Bomb Detection K9 was killed on that day. Some may say they he was “just a dog”, but he was also a police officer and a partner to Officer David Lim. Officer Lim made it out that day. Sirius did not.

If you don’t have tears in your eyes right now, then you probably don’t have a heart.

For more stories about these heroes and for photos, go visit Lagniappe’s Lair.