nmah5467.xml

nmah5467.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-03-14

On Sept 11th I was working about 40 miles south of NYC in a NJ Police Department. I saw other officers in the lounge gathering around the TV and I instinctively approached. (Every time something happens in the world, that is a drawing place) The other cops were watching after the first plane hit and we wondered if it was a small plane or a commuter jet. As we were talking out of nowhere came the other plane. We were frozen as it hit and within a second or so, I looked at another officer and said That was no #%$*$$ accident and we moved to organize our response. As head of our technical services division, The Chief and I began to plan the next step. The officer I was speaking to in the lounge was in the reserves and had been involved in high level protection services. His cell phone quickly rang and he was off to active duty. It is now March of 2003 and we havent seen him yet. No one can know the frustration of being able to see the smoke from the towers and not being able to go and help. After all, thats what we do! We were all ordered to stay in town and we worked on securing the schools and sensitive buildings we had. Fairly quickly, NYPD and NJSP sent out teletypes requesting no more emergency personnel in the city.

After work I went up to the Highlands and the ferrys to help the people coming over. And then I took some paramedics home who came over on the last ferry. We were busy as hell, but we took care of the community which was our jobs. To this day, many of us have what you might call survivor guilt. That night, I got home and tried to relax and even tried to sit and play my guitar which often sooths. I ended up writing a song which I played at a benefit at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park a week or so later. Many people in the audience cried. So did I. A music critic there said in his story that the song visibly moved the audience. I couldnt even think of trying to record the song commercially because it was my gift to the people lost. I did make a basement CD of the song and when I went up to NYC on my days off and worked at the trade center site, gave it to the local firehouses and the PDs. (I can not even bear to call the site Ground Zero because that too seems to be a commercialization of the tragedy. Like when the embassy in Iran was taken and ABC launched Ted Kopels night show)

My wife worked in the Trade Center up until a few years or so before Sept 11th. She is from England and has been having a lot of trouble with this. She say's that I "just go into cop mode" and she thinks it doesn't bother me. It does

America was at it's best when faced with adversity. Our people make this country what it is. That is who was attacked, our people, not the government. That's why we stand strong. We may fight among ourselves, but don't let an outsider try.

I found the flag that was used on my dad's coffin when he was buried. It was large and was hung on the front of the house. Everyone was flying flags. It was good to see our resolve and national pride.



***The song mentioned above is on my computer as a MP3.Let me know if you would like it