A firefighter who met the love of his life as they battled to save lives during 9/11 proposed on the anniversary of the terror attack 17 years later.
David O'Neal, 48, and Missy Epperson, 54, met as first responders at Ground Zero, where she worked with the K-9 police dog unit whilst he was a Station 43 fireman in Pennsylvania.
They kept in touch online following the Twin Towers atrocity, but had not met again in the flesh until he moved from Staten Island, New York, to Illinois, in July to see Missy for the first time since the horror of that day, which killed nearly 3,000 people.
After a whirlwind romance, David got down on one knee at a 9/11 memorial service and the couple are due to tie the knot on September 11 next year.
David, now retired, said: 'I wanted to get engaged on 9/11 to turn it into a happy day. I wish I had married her onsite 17 years ago.
Part time firefighter David was just blocks away from the World Trade Center when the first plane hit on the morning of September 11, 2001.
He was not on duty as a firefighter at the time of 9/11, but was meeting a friend near the the Twin Towers and rushed to help with the rescue effort due to his experience working at Station 43 in Monroe County, Pennsylvania.
David was then assigned to help with the rescue efforts, as he had also had experience in high-rise demolition, and worked at the site for the next seven months.
Three days after the terror attack, on September 14, Missy arrived with the midwest K-9 unit to help with the rescue effort.
Missy - who has assisted in over 50 relief missions from Hurricane Sandy and Katrina to the 2011 tsunami in Japan - stayed at the site for 33 days before returning to Illinois.
Missy, of Maytoon, Illinois, said: 'I was stunned when he got down on one knee in front of everyone.
'It's made something happy out of something devastating. In a way, 9/11 brought us together.
'We're going to get married on the 9/11 anniversary next year. David has already picked out my dress - it's beautiful.
Seven months later in March 2002 an accident on the site of the North tower forced David - who has two daughters from a previous marriage - to retire early.
In the years that followed, the pair suffered from PTSD, as well as from a number of health problems as a result of their time spent at Ground Zero.
Describing the terrible events of 2001, David added: 'I didn't see it, but I could hear it. The whole entire ground shook. It was chaos.
'Everything started falling. There was shattered glass and pieces of steel coming from the sky.
'People were running out and screaming. I was across the street when the second plane hit. There were injured and dead everywhere. I was scared as hell.
'My job was to find the remains. They were splattered apart all over. When I found them, I had to bag them, tag them, and drop them down to the morgue.
David proposed to Missy at the 9/11 memorial in Decatur, Illinois, on the anniversary of the attack last month.
Bride-to-be, Missy, a retired paramedic who has one daughter and three grandchildren from an earlier marriage, said: 'When I heard what happened [at 9/11] I immediately began making arrangements to volunteer.
'I knew what the loss of life was going to be, and I wanted to help. David and I were doing what we were supposed to do. The devastation was totally out of this world.
'Years later I added David as a friend on Facebook.
'If I was ever having a bad day, Davey was there for me - he understood.