project 2996 – Sergeant Rodney C. Gillis

On this September 11th, we will take a day to remember Sergeant Rodney C. Gillis, shield number 1889 of the New York City Police Department.
Sergeant Gillis started his NYPD career on January 26, 1988, and started patrolling with Field Training Unit 12; however, in December of 1991, he fulfilled his life-long dream, and was assigned to the Emergency Services Unit. After various promotions and transfers, the ESU requested that Sergeant Gillis be reassigned to Emergency Services Squad 8 as its supervisor. In his time of service, Sergeant Gillis not only became a certified medical technician, a hazardous materials technician, and a trained scuba diver, but also found the time to be a dedicated father to Jonique, Aleesia, and Rodney, Jr.
After having been born, raised, and educated in New York City, Sergeant Gillis was known as “a Brooklyn boy, through and through”, and had an obvious love for the city and his fellow police officers. In turn, that love was reciprocated by his superiors and subordinates, with Lieutenant Richard Green, one of his supervisors, saying, “He’s a true warrior.”
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Sergeant Gillis was off-duty, wrapping up some paperwork at Truck 8′s Brooklyn headquarters when he heard the news of the first plane impact. Gathering up four other ESU officers, Santos Valentin, Ronald Kloepfer, Walter Weaver and Jerome Dominguez, he headeded inside 2 World Trade Center in order to search for and evacuate survivors, telling his supervisor, “We’re on the 20th floor of the south tower. We’re meeting a lot of resistance.”
Minutes later, that tower collapsed, killing Sergeant Gillis and his four ESU colleagues. His body was never recovered from the World Trade Center, and his family, never giving up hope that he would be found, did not hold a memorial service.
Sergeant Gillis will be remembered for his service to his city, his care for his family, his his selfless dedication, his gentlemanly demeanor, his diligent professionalism, his sacrifice, and his smiles, as documented by his mother and Officer Harriett Stevenson:

1) The Knowing Smile: When he made eye contact with someone else, and both knew what was going on.

2) The Proud Smile: When he talked about his son and two daughters, or when he got dressed up in uniform and looked at himself in the mirror.

3) The Concerned Smile. When friends or relatives were going through a difficult spell, and needed a morale boost.

4) The Encouraging Smile. “If a situation was difficult, you wouldn’t know about it, because he’d have that look of assurance saying, ‘Don’t worry, we can handle it,’ ” Ms. Stevenson said.

On December 4, 2001, Sergeant Gillis was posthumously awarded the New York City Police Department Medal of Honor – the highest award of the NYPD.
He is survived by his wife, his three children, his mother Geraldine Gilliam, his father Otha Gillis, and his brother Ronald.
If you have any corrections or additions to the above information, or would like to leave your thoughts concerning Sergeant Rodney Gillis, feel free to make use of the comments section of this post, or email me at “linoge (at) wallsofthecity (dot) net”.
This post is part of Project 2,996 – an effort dedicated to remembering each and every victim of the attacks of September 11, 2001.