Radio host told Sarasota he's a 9/11 hero. Was he really there?

Editor's note: This story was updated Dec. 7 detailing subsequent events and additional information received by the Observer since the story's publication.

He was trapped for 13 hours in the rubble of the World Trade Center on 9/11. 

That’s what conservative radio host Matt Bruce told an audience this year during the Remembrance of 9/11 ceremony at Sarasota National Cemetery.

“‘Mayday, mayday, mayday,’ those (calls) were real,” said Bruce during his speech.  “And I probably was one of them.”

No way. Hell no. Not a chance. 

Those were the reactions of current and retired firefighters from the city and state of New York to Bruce’s story of survival.

A former Sarasota-area resident now based in the Tampa area, Bruce refers to himself as “the Captain.” He hosts a nationally syndicated late-night talk radio program called “Captain’s America Third Watch,” which appears along with “The Alex Jones Show” in the 40-show lineup of Genesis Communications Network. 

GCN’s website describes itself as “the largest independently owned and operated talk radio network in the country,” whose talk radio programming is heard in 49 states. Locally, Bruce’s program appears on The Answer AM 930 (AM 860 in Tampa) and FM 93.7.

Over his decades-long radio career, Bruce has built an audience by cultivating a folksy on-air persona bolstered by his decorated record in Vietnam and as a firefighter in the state of New York. 

As a firefighter “assigned” to the New York City Fire Department, he says he responded to the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, where he was buried for 13 hours in the rubble of the North Tower.

But sources throughout New York fire departments, including FDNY, have something in common. They say Matt Bruce is “a fake.”

Photo by Ian Swaby

“I had friends who died on 9/11. To say that he survived a building collapse is a sin,” said Mark McLees, former Syracuse fire chief, whose department Bruce claims to have worked for over a 10-year period. 

A wide range of interviews, archival material and public records the Observer obtained reveal that in many cases, Bruce is either outright lying, wholly exaggerating or some combination of the two when it comes to his military career and service as a firefighter.

Mayday

Bruce was invited to speak at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee’s 9/11 commemoration held on Sept. 11, 2023.

During his speech, Bruce told the audience gathered in Sarasota about his experiences on 9/11. He was in New York that day to teach 25 probationary firefighters ”the skill of initial fire attack,” he said. 

Bruce said, “I found myself” at the World Trade Center, “was able to go up to Tower No. 2,” ostensibly as part of the rescue efforts inside the WTC’s North Tower (address WTC 1) “when a building fell on me.” While trapped for 13 hours in the rubble of the North Tower’s collapse, Bruce said he suffered a compound fracture to his ankle that was splinted by a comrade. 

“It hurt like hell … stopped the bleeding, put a tourniquet on it, and 13 hours later we got out of the mess that we were in,” Bruce said in his speech.

It sounds like a miracle, the stuff of movies. 

Of course, that movie has already been made. “The Miracle of Stairwell B” recounted the real-life survival story of 14 people inside the North Tower, including 12 firefighters, one of whom was FDNY firefighter John “Jay” Jonas. Only a literal handful of others survived the North Tower’s collapse.

But somehow Bruce’s story escaped recognition. 

“I never heard of this man. I’ve never heard of (Matt Bruce),” said Gerald Sanford, who was an FDNY firefighter for three decades and served as press secretary for FDNY in the aftermath of 9/11. Sanford was responsible for organizing a meeting between President George W. Bush and Jonas in the wake of the attacks.

“I was there. I would’ve known about somebody that was trapped ... I was in the press office,” said Sanford. “It would be impossible,” for such a story to have escaped his notice or that of his press team, Sanford added.

“There were no students to train. The students were already in firehouses. In fact, six of them perished that day,” said Sanford. “Him saying that he taught rookies. I never heard of that.”

Bruce told the Observer that on Sept. 11, 2001, he was teaching a course on Long Island near Huntington, which is located about 40 miles away from the World Trade Center. 

Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center’s North Tower at 8:46 a.m. The South Tower (address WTC 2) was struck at 9:03 a.m. In less than two hours, first the South, then the North towers collapsed.

Bruce told the Observer that after the second tower (the North) collapsed on him, he was rescued 13 hours later from the rubble and taken to “the command post.” 

There he awaited hospital transport, Bruce said. “But there was no transport at that time.”

“I was right there (at the command post) watching everything from start to finish,” Bruce told the Observer.

Sanford, however, explained there were plenty of medical personnel standing by at that point. The only shortage by then? Survivors.

“He would have been taken to the hospital,” said Jack McDonnell, retired FDNY battalion chief. He is a recipient of FDNY’s highest award for valor, formerly known as the James Gordon Bennett medal.

During his 9/11 speech, Bruce said there were a dozen people with him. When questioned by the Observer, Bruce could not recall the names of any of his 12 fellow survivors.

Similarly, Bruce could not recall the names of anyone at the command post, with the exception of his doctor, Shari Berg, a St. Petersburg practitioner, who Bruce claims was running triage at Ground Zero and subsequently treated him. Berg could not be reached for comment.

“The command post was destroyed at the time. They were literally crushed. He wasn’t there,” said McDonnell. “(13 hours?) that was absolutely impossible. I was at the reestablished command post.”

Daniel Caffrey was in the audience in Sarasota when Bruce gave his speech. He retired from FDNY as a captain and is a former deputy fire administrator of the New York Office of Fire Prevention and Control.

Photo by Ian Swaby

Bruce wore a chief’s hat with a gold braid signifying that rank, Caffrey said. A captain’s hat, Caffrey explained, would have a white braid. Not to mention the inconsistencies in Bruce’s story of training probationary firefighters at a training tower on Long Island.

There’s no training tower in Brooklyn, explained Caffrey.

Bruce has been telling his story of survival for more than a decade. His speech at a political event held in 2010 at Sarasota’s bayfront can be found online. In that speech, Bruce said he “went through” 9/11 at Ground Zero with six people under his command “who never came back.”

“He was brought up to me through other individuals,” said Carlos Moreira, event organizer and director of campus engagement for veteran success and alumni affairs at USF Sarasota-Manatee. “It was more within the lines of he told me the story, the names he mentioned. I wanted to make sure of what he was going to talk about. So I wanted to make sure no politics got into the speech.”

Bruce's war

Bruce’s story of his service in Vietnam is inconsistent. 

The 9/11 Sarasota Remembrance event program states that Bruce served two tours in Vietnam, earning two purple hearts, a bronze star and a silver star. The latter is the third-highest military commendation for valor that the U.S. awards. The speaker bio further states that Bruce “finished his eight years in the military with the New York Army National Guard.”

Bruce submitted this biographical information to USF and approved the final version that appeared in the 9/11 event program, Moreira said.

In an interview with the Observer, Bruce said that he had done combat tours in Vietnam in 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969, and that he was stateside from 1970 onward, some of which time was spent recuperating from injuries sustained during combat.

Bruce confirmed that he is from Cazenovia, New York, a small town of about 3,000 people located 20 miles east of Syracuse.

The archives of the Cazenovia Republican, the local newspaper, include three stories that reference a Matt Bruce or Matthew Bruce as the head of a Civil Defense Rescue snowmobile organization in November of 1970, March of 1971 and again in October 1971. Although the Cazenovia Republican failed to report on any military awards won by a Matt/Matthew Bruce, the archives note a Matt Bruce’s membership in Explorer Post No. 10 in 1961 and the boys club’s subsequent hay ride, along with a congratulations to a Matt Bruce for bowling a 200 game in 1963.

Bruce’s extensive LinkedIn profile, which is written entirely in the first person, states he served in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1974.

That section of the profile includes a photo of a soldier walking away from a burning hut in Vietnam. On the LinkedIn profile, the photo’s caption reads, “Capt Matt Bruce, Vietnam 1968 on Patrol…”

That same photo appears in the U.S. National Archives. The photo was taken on May 5, 1966, during Operation Georgia, a U.S. Marine Corps Security operation, according to the National Archives.

Bruce denied having written any of the information that appears on the LinkedIn profile, which begins with his high school record at Cazenovia Central School, where it’s stated that he graduated in 1965 with a C+ in general studies. The LinkedIn page for Matt Bruce has 6,000 followers and is updated almost daily with posts from Bruce’s radio program, the “Captain’s America Third Watch.” It contains more than 22 detailed work experiences and dozens of certifications.

Courtesy photo

A dozen people or sound engineers have access to the LinkedIn profile, said Bruce. 

“I can’t even tell you how many people have worked here (at the radio station) in public relations.”

“There’s not 12 engineers. I don’t know the team,” said Marc Lecher, who described himself as Bruce’s “aide de camp,” saying that he sells the sponsors and runs interference for Bruce’s radio program. The Answer Tampa’s website lists Lecher as a multimedia marketing consultant.

“I have nothing to do with that (Bruce’s LinkedIn page),” Lecher said.

The LinkedIn page states that Bruce was part of “LRRP’s, ‘Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol Teams,’" and served two tours and eventually rose to the rank of company commander in the 101st Airborne. 

“That seems to be a recollection,” Bruce said of the LinkedIn information regarding Vietnam. “That reporter may have interviewed me and written that.”

The identity of “that reporter” is unknown.

When asked if there were any official records of his military service, Bruce told the Observer that they were destroyed in a fire. 

The one in St. Louis? “Yes,” Bruce replied.

On July 12, 1973, a fire ignited at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The fire destroyed nearly 80% of the U.S. Army records stored there, according to the U.S. National Archives.

But the records that were affected by the fire in St. Louis belonged only to U.S. Army personnel discharged between Nov. 1, 1912 and Jan. 1, 1960, according to the National Archives.

Bruce later told the Observer that documents regarding his military career and/or firefighting career were unlikely to be found because he possesses a top secret security clearance. 

“I’ve done some things for the government before that I can’t talk about,” Bruce said. “I’ve done some things before 9/11 that I can’t discuss.” 

On fire

Bruce told the Observer that he began his firefighting career as a volunteer in Cazenovia in 1975.

Then, in 1980, Bruce said he joined the Scriba, New York, fire department on a part-time basis and at some point during that time “made rank in the lieutenant's test.” The Scriba department is all-volunteer.

“In 1982 or 1983,” he said he joined the Syracuse Fire Department, where he served for the next 10 years. For some portion of that time he was a lieutenant, he told the Observer. In his speaker bio in the USF 9/11 commemoration, Bruce claims to have risen to the rank of captain.

“In short, he’s a fake,” said McLees, the former Syracuse fire chief, who retired in 2013 after a nearly 28-year career with the department. “(Matt Bruce) was never in the Syracuse Fire Department. He has nothing to do with Syracuse. For him to say Oswego or Syracuse, that’s not true.”

Having seen a picture of Bruce during his speech, McLees noted a number of inconsistencies in Bruce’s dress. 

“Without even listening to him I could tell that he was a fake,” said McLees. “He has a shirt on that has the FDNY patch in the wrong place. He has epaulets on. No one in FDNY wears epaulets.” 

McLees also noted that the patches on the right breast of Bruce’s shirt indicated completed training or certifications and are commonly sewn onto windbreakers by volunteer firefighters.

“Based on his uniform he’s from another planet,” said McLees.

The Syracuse Fire Department keeps detailed records of employment dating back to 1940, said Matt Craner, public information officer for the Syracuse Fire Department. 

But Craner said he and his team were unable to find any employment or service records for Bruce.

“We’re actually in the process of digitizing records (now),” said Craner. “We keep very extensive, very detailed records.”

The Syracuse Fire Department only has about 365 members now, said Craner. The force numbered about 500 during the 1980s and early 1990s. 

“People remember. Someone that rose to the rank of captain in 10 years and was around to the early 1990s, I think he would be remembered,” said Craner.

If a former Syracuse firefighter had in fact survived the collapse of the North Tower, Craner added, “A story like that would have been news here. I assume it would have been national news.”

Rank and record

Bruce told the Observer that he became a New York State fire instructor in 1993 and served in that capacity until 2003 and was based in Huntington, Long Island. Later during that same interview Bruce told the Observer that he retired in 2002.

“I was a New York State-certified firefighter for 30 years,” Bruce said. “I became an NYS training fire officer for 12 years. I have proof of every little bit of that.”

No record of Bruce appears in the New York State or city of New York pension or retirement benefit records hosted by SeeThroughNYC.net, which aggregates government records from across the state. 

When asked about his absence from pension and retirement records, Bruce said, “Some of these agencies seal the firefighters’ and police records from someone trying to snoop.” 

The names of all the New York firefighter sources quoted in this story appear in the retirement, pension or payroll records hosted on the website.

Bruce also told the Observer that due to instruction he led at Mohawk Niagara Power nuclear plants in New York, his records may be classified.

“I did a nuclear plant one time. There are nuclear plants in New York and they have fire departments. … We had to train their fire departments. Everytime I did one they gave me a plaque in remembrance and appreciation. So I got all kinds of things like that.”

In the program for the Sarasota 9/11 Memorial, Bruce describes himself as a “retired Fire Rescue Capt.” The title is used to describe him on the Matt Bruce LinkedIn page, in social media posts about his radio show and on a Matt Bruce profile on Firefighter Nation, a social networking site for firefighters.

“That’s not a term that’s used in New York,” said John Mueller. Mueller was chief of fire services and worked for three decades in the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control. 

That office operates the NYS training program, according to Mueller. It also trains “all the volunteer firefighters in the state except for Long Island.”

Mueller also said that he has no ”recollection of ever seeing an NYS instructor assigned to probation school to teach basic skills.”

“The large cities of New York operate their own training programs,” said Mueller.

Where’s the proof?

The Observer asked Bruce why his 9/11 story had thus far escaped the notice of the press.

“Most of us didn't say anything. I didn’t want to be involved,” Bruce said. “Here’s the thing. … It's never been about the people who survived a major situation. It's about the people we lost. It’s all about the people we lost. That’s who we were honoring.”

The Observer submitted a FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) inquiry to the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES) requesting any fire training, certification, etc. records for Matthew Bruce. That and similar requests are currently processing.

Via email and phone, the Observer requested Bruce share any records documenting his military service (e.g. discharge papers), firefighting career, training and/or certifications. 

Bruce replied with 18 blurry photos of various certificates and documents hanging on his wall. Of the 18, one was completely legible. A certificate from the Manatee County Amateur Radio Club.

Matt Bruce emailed the Observer to state he sent a packet of documents via USPS on Sept. 22. A request for a tracking number and/or clear photos of the documents went unanswered.

Sarasota Observer reporter Ian Swaby contributed to research for this story.