story7794.xml
Title
story7794.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-17
911DA Story: Story
Iam a Sgt with the NY State Police. On the morning of September 11, 2001 I was in my town which is about 65 miles from NYC, although I originally grew up in NYC I had moved from there many years earlier. That morning I was in and out of my truck shopping for things from area hardware stores. Now normally I listen to music while Iam in the truck and a news bulletin came over saying that a plane had struck the World Trade Center, at that point I thought that it was a small plane because the radio didnt specify what type of plane it was. I continued on with my shopping, when I got back to my truck the radio announcer said that one of the Towers had collapsed, I was in disbelief, but I knew I had to get to a television, so I drove to my Doctor's office which was in Town and saw the carnage.
I called work and was told to come in right away, I reported to my barracks and in an hour or two was told to pack for NYC and bring clothes for a 3 day stay we were to muster at Stewart Air base in Orange County NY. I went home got clothes and reported to Stewart Air Base, we then left for NYC in waves of 30 Troopers, Eventually totalling 600 I remember the sign on the thruway as we headed down "NYC Closed"...."NYC Closed" I never thought I would see a sign that said that.
We went down the Palisades and came across the George Washington Bridge the biggest thing that struck me was the smoke it seemed like the entire Island of Manhatan was covered with smoke, we reported to the Javits Center and from there were deployed to various posts around the City, the first day we were on post for about 30 hours, slept on the floor of the Javits Center, but I was glad I was helping in anyway we could. On the second day my squad was on Vesey Street and on the actual pile of Ground Zero, the destruction was enormous, esp for me since I had grown up in NYC and had actually been in the World Trade Center and knew how large a complex it was, The actual Pile at the highest point only seemed about 10 stories above street level, if that, 10 stories left of a building 110 stories high and the dust was incredible.
Other memories are good at how well the people of NYC treated us.
I called work and was told to come in right away, I reported to my barracks and in an hour or two was told to pack for NYC and bring clothes for a 3 day stay we were to muster at Stewart Air base in Orange County NY. I went home got clothes and reported to Stewart Air Base, we then left for NYC in waves of 30 Troopers, Eventually totalling 600 I remember the sign on the thruway as we headed down "NYC Closed"...."NYC Closed" I never thought I would see a sign that said that.
We went down the Palisades and came across the George Washington Bridge the biggest thing that struck me was the smoke it seemed like the entire Island of Manhatan was covered with smoke, we reported to the Javits Center and from there were deployed to various posts around the City, the first day we were on post for about 30 hours, slept on the floor of the Javits Center, but I was glad I was helping in anyway we could. On the second day my squad was on Vesey Street and on the actual pile of Ground Zero, the destruction was enormous, esp for me since I had grown up in NYC and had actually been in the World Trade Center and knew how large a complex it was, The actual Pile at the highest point only seemed about 10 stories above street level, if that, 10 stories left of a building 110 stories high and the dust was incredible.
Other memories are good at how well the people of NYC treated us.
Collection
Citation
“story7794.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 22, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/8418.