nmah161.xml

nmah161.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-19

I live in Cliffwood Beach, NJ. It is a district of Old Bridge Township, which lost residents that day. I am ashamed to say I was asleep, but in one of those half-in/half-out states. I had slept late that morning because I did not have classes until later that afternoon at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft and would not for the rest of the day. The first words I remember hearing from CNN (the reporters name escapes me at the moment) was something to the extent that "the World Trade Center was on fire as a result of some accident. I then literally shot out of my bed and upstairs to my mother who was already on the phone to my dad who was in the city that day with his job. Thankfully, instead of being in Manhattan, he never made it to the city because of a meeting. I sat in front of the TV for about and hour and a half until I decided to call work to see if they needed help. I work for an A&P by me and they get busy when it rains out so I figured they might be a little busy. They did not know. When I told my friend behind the desk what had happened, she gasped and told everyone around her. I told her I would keep calling with more news. Several times, I could not get through because the phones were jammed. For the next hour of so, I watched the second plane strike the other tower, reports, then pictures of the Pentagon on fire, the panic of people in Washington, DC, as the threat of another plane was en route to the area. Finally, my mother decided it best to go get some food in case things got worse. When I got to where I work, radios were on all over the place. It was eerily quite - for the time being. A few of my co-workers were outside crying on cell phones. One friend of mine, Joann Z., was trying to get to her son who was attending NYU. She could not get through to him at the time, but did later in the day. He was fine, but was evacuated from his dorm. He was coming home for a few days and she did not care. We had had five people call out that day. Three were stuck at school (at college - the same one I go to) when they stopped the trains and buses. One was in the city - in Brooklyn visiting family. The other just did not want to come in because she was afraid. We did not care. We were too. I was walking past the seafood department talking to Rose when we heard on the radio she had the tower coming down. The reporter simply said "my god." There was then about 10, maybe 15 seconds of silence followed by the reporter saying that one of the towers collapsed. At first, he was saying the top floors collapsed - which would have been more feasible. However, he got confirmation about the whole tower. That is when I decided it was time to head home. After checking out my groceries and agreeing to come in three hours early, I left. Out in the parking lot, two Army helicopters and three F-14 fighter jets hauling ass towards New York City greeted me. I have two military facilities near me - a Navy base and an Army base. They were closed off so tight, not even a bird could fly over. It was amazing and scary. I live about 25 minutes from IFF - International Flavor and Fragrances - and heard that they closed both plants and evacuated surrounding residents "just in case." When I got home, I began to see the smoke from the towers. Where I live in New Jersey, I am about an hour from the city and if I go to the nearby beach, I could see the city - and used to be able to see the towers. I could see the smoke lining the sky and bellowing up into the sky. As I sat down at my house, I watched the other tower go down. It was then, after everything was in chaos and the FAA closed the airspace, my mother sent me to pick up my sister at school. When I got to my old high school, there were kids crying in the hallways. The township released a voluntary pick-up for all parents but they would not release the students until the end of the day because they knew there would be no one home. It took me twenty minutes and all my will to keep from screaming at them to find out where she was. She was in gym - thankfully - and I knew the teacher. She was cool with it and let us leave. On the way back, I took the Route 35 - which, if you know it, runs parallel and is wide open to the Raritan Bay facing the city. A column of smoke, now double in size because the other tower had gone down was riding the sky south. When we got home, I told my mom and sister that I was going to work and probably would not be home until late. I did not get home until 1 a.m. I work a 14-hour day that day when I was only scheduled for five. While I was on register helping the people that came streaming in suddenly, I heard the sounds of freedom flying over. I never got a chance to see, but the cart boy came running in and told us the President just flew over the Presidential helicopter flanked by four army jets. During that night, some of the front-end employees helped in other departments because their employees called out too. I helped in produce take down the salad bar. While I was doing that, the Star Ledger delivery truck dropped off fifty copies of an extra edition. As far as I know, the first extra edition of the day, or evening. The ominous headline in the capital bold print stated: "AMERICA ATTACKED." I began to tear up and immediately grabbed two copies which I still have. They never made it to the morning because the employees bought most and some customers bought some too. Earlier in that night, when the President spoke, I put it over the loud speaker for everyone to hear. It was inspiring and made me proud to be an American. When I got home, all the news channels were still on. ABC and UPN finally came back on the air, but were barely there. Their transmissions were stopped when the tower on top of the Center was destroyed. I was amazed that the BBC stayed on the air. I could not sleep. At 3:30 a.m., Fox News decided to give their people a break and switched to a British morning news program. It was about 10 a.m. there so the day was well on its way to being bad for them now. They had reporters live in New York and Washington. It was just an amazing day. I cried for the first time in a long while that night. Watching all the news programs with all their pictures just got to me. When I see others crying, I do to.

Yes. I am more vigilant of my surroundings now. I am a bookkeeper now at the A&P and we are a Western Union agent. I am always suspicious about any large transfer or a customer who buys odd items - charcoal, lighter fluid, and bleach... stuff like that. I have a greater respect of New Yorkers. My family is a firefighting family. My grandfather and father were firefighters and I plan to be one day. On that day, we lost a family friend who was FDNY fire police.

Everything. The towers, the businesses, the people, the firefighters, the police, the Port Authority, the EMTs, the rescue workers, the construction people who helped pull victims and, unfortunately, bodies from the rubble. I think the towers should be rebuilt. Alls it will take is some redevelopment in the area and BINGO - taller towers. I have no fear that another attack will occur. If terrorists are smart - and we all know there not to attack the United States - they will not try what they did again unless they want their home county turned into a lake or a parking lot.

Yes. I flew the flag and its been flying ever since. I have had to replace it twice because of it. I have flags on my car, at work, in my room, on my schoolbooks. They are everywhere. My feelings about the American flag will never change. It should be worshiped just a much as the Bible or even the Koran. It is a symbol of freedom that will never leave the face of this planet. I feel that the world will learn to accept us just as our other "enemies" (Great Britain, Japan, Russia, Mexico, N. and South Korea) have and they have become good friends and allies.