It was twenty-two years ago that I was travelling on Interstate 80 east bound in Hackensack not far from the very spot where I work today.
I was headed to Ground Zero, or what would commonly become known as “the pit and the pile” by many who were involved with the recovery efforts following the aftermath of our nation’s worst terrorist attacks.
I remember dialing my friend Anthony to inquire what was happening. He didn’t pick up, so I left a voice mail.
Just before getting to the Lincoln Tunnel my lieutenant called to turn me around and come back to the office in Morris County where a group of 20 of us troopers mustered waiting for the order to take action and watching the news to learn what was happening. Back then, there was no plan for something of this magnitude, and no real way of sharing threat information like we do today.
Later that evening, we found ourselves at Liberty State Park in Jersey City. The scene was surreal. Lower Manhattan was completely dark except for the fires that burned high in the adjacent buildings near where the towers once stood. Smoke and a putrid odor filled the air. There seemed to be a hundred ambulances waiting for the injured to be ferried across the Hudson River to be brought to area hospitals. They never came.
The next day, I learned that my friend Anthony had been killed in the World Trade Center. Inspector Anthony Infante of the Port Authority Police Department of New York and New Jersey had been in Jersey City where he was attending a meeting. Upon learning of the planes slamming into those skyscrapers he travelled across the river to the towers. He had been last seen in the North Tower climbing the stairs and calming those who were on the way down as he proceeded the way up to lead others to safety. He was killed shortly thereafter when the North Tower collapsed around him.
For some time, I felt terrible that on that fateful day I was turned around from heading to the pit. While I never really thought it through, somehow, in my mind’s eye I convinced myself that if I had been at the pit in those moments after the buildings fell I would have somehow provided closure for losing Anthony or the many others I knew that went to work that day and never came home.
Time would pass, and I would meet a New York City Police Detective, Robert Sassok from the Joint Terrorism Task Force. We instantly became friends and soon began to share tales. When it came to that fateful day, he had a similar story to mine. When the towers were hit by the planes, he immediately thought to respond to Ground Zero. Similar to me, his supervisor turned him around. However, his sergeant did so with a strident reminder, “your work is needed here.”
Funny how a few words can change your outlook on things.
“Your work is needed here.”
Today, twenty-two years later, when nearly 3,000 innocent people were killed on that fateful day, and over 6,000 United States military personnel were killed in the Global War on Terrorism that followed, and thousands who perished owing to September 11 illnesses contracted from working or living nearby the pit, the threats facing America - on the terror and criminal fronts – still remain.
In spite of the how long it has been, the anniversary of “September 11th” should always remind us all that our collective work is still needed here.
The fire, police, EMS services, and of course the military, continue to stand between the innocent and all that is evil. It is the blanket of safety and security they provide that embodies the American spirit and resolve for all to realize.
For so many - particularly in this area of the country (the Northeast) - this day will forever be wrought by raw emotion over the memory of lost loved ones – spouses, parents, kids, nieces, nephews - from that fateful day. For others, it should be an annual reminder that we can never take our public safety and military personnel for granted for what they do or for what they may have to do to protect our lives and freedoms.
May the God we pray to bless and keep the souls of all those lost on that tragic day and those who followed as a result of dealing with the aftermath. Likewise, may God continue to give strength to all who lost a loved one, a colleague, a neighbor, and someone like my friend Anthony.
On this Patriot Day – Lest we forget!
