nmah5261.xml

nmah5261.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-10-28

I was in bed when my phone rang,It was a friend of the family asking if we heard anything from my mother in-law.(My mother in-law worked on the 97th floor of tower 2)It was a strange feeling I got from this called that prompted the obvious question "Why?".Immediately I turned the TV on and saw one of the towers burning.Panic set in,by coincidence she had stayed over and was off to work from my home.Just a few minutes later releif when she rang our bell and told us the light rail was stopped and she never made it to work(My mother in-law was in her office in 1993 and walked all the way down).Now we rushed back to the TV still confused when the second plane hit,reality struck terrorism again.I am a Jersey City Police Officer and was on my day off September 11,so I am wondering when the call from my department would come,it didn't, on the bottom of the television screen a scrolling message "All police,fire and emergency medical personnel report to you departments".20 minutes later I was in full uniform and on my way to my precinct,we were teansported to a staging area near exchange place which is directly across the river from the World Trade Center,My first view just brought hurt,anger and most of all disbeleif.I felt violated "How dare someone do this to us" but I knew I had a job to do and within the hour myself and all my brothers and sisters on this job I chose and love were on many boats crossing the river.What I saw and experienced I feel no need to get into by now"We all know " whether you are a police officer or not.I always thought about people that were part of history,this is one part of history I hope would hyave never happened.But I was forced into it by evil cowards and I am proud I was able to serve along side the great people of this country.

Yes I did,and I felt ashamed I didn't do it before this tragedy.