TAMPA, Fla. – Every year on August 7th we celebrate National Purple Heart Day, and here in Tampa there is a recipient who has used his heart to change the lives of hundreds of people around the world.

Bryan Stern received his Purple Heart for injuries he sustained in New York City on the morning of September 11, 2001. He said that day he decided he would spend the rest of his life serving Americans and saving American lives.

Stern was a 22-year-old U.S. Army soldier who happened to be at the foot of the World Trade Center when the first plane hit.

“I go to the plaza and try to tell people to go north, go north, get out of the way, get out of the way. A lot of people are scared, a lot of people are running and it’s very chaotic,” Stern said. “And this woman screams, ‘Oh my God, there’s another one.’ Then there’s this loud explosion; the plane hit just as I was looking up, and I felt the heat in my face.”

Although Stern suffered burns and cuts all over his body, he never left Ground Zero. Over the next few days, he helped sift through the rubble and search for survivors.

Stern had a successful military career, first in the Army, then in the Navy, and now in the Reserves.

“I’ve been to Afghanistan a million times, I’ve been all over the world, I’ve been on Seal teams and I have a chest full of ribbons,” Stern said.

But it wasn’t until 2021, two decades after the September 11 attacks, that Stern was awarded the Purple Heart – an award that evokes mixed feelings.

“You don’t want a Purple Heart. That’s like wanting the prisoner of war medal. You have to get injured to get it,” Stern said. “When I think about Purple Heart Day, I really don’t think about my Purple Heart on 9/11, I don’t think about that at all. I think about all the Gold Star families. I think about all the guys in wheelchairs with no arms and no legs.”

Now Stern is using that Purple Heart for his newest mission, the nonprofit Grey Bull Rescue, whose goal is to save Americans and their allies in countries ravaged by war or natural disaster.

“I knew I could help because I do evacuations, I do hostage rescues, I do a lot of these things that a lot of people don’t know how to do,” Stern said. “So I called a few of my friends and said, ‘Listen, guys, let’s get the band back together.’ I know those boundaries, I know the people, I have friends, I have sources, I have all kinds of good stuff, I know I can help.”

Since 2021, Stern and his team have conducted over 600 missions worldwide, rescuing more than 7,000 people.

“When October 7 happened, we immediately launched an operation in Israel. We conducted the largest private rescue of American citizens in history, 293 Americans,” Stern said.

Stern is the voice of those who are not being heard, of his fellow Americans who are asking for only one thing: a way home.

“I don’t care if I’m in the Army, I don’t care if I’m in the Navy, I don’t care if I’m in Grey Bull Rescue. My skills and who I am, that’s who I am and that’s woven into my being, and that’s all tied to the morning of 9/11 and how I got my Purple Heart,” Stern said.

Click here for more information about Grey Bull Rescue.