Lawrence Township Police Sgt. Mike Yeh can still see the Air Force fighters rocketing overhead. East Windsor Fire Co. #1 Chief Kevin Brink can remember trudging through the ash that in places was as deep as snow drifts. Both men can still recall the horror and disbelief they felt when they first set eyes on the mountain of twisted steel and shattered concrete. Ten years have passed since the two first responders raced up to Lower Manhattan in the hours immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. As members of New Jersey Urban Search and Rescue Task …

St. Barth's School on Ryders Lane dedicated a 9/11 memorial during a ceremony, Friday.

As a poet from a working-class New Jersey background who teaches at a small community college tucked into the Northwest corner of his home state, BJ Ward is accustomed to being ignored. Which makes the public’s awareness — and gratitude — for one of his poems, For the Children of the World Trade Center Victims, all the more remarkable to him. Ten years after the Sept. 11 attacks, Ward still hears from the children and wives of Sept. 11 (but no husbands so far) emailing or calling to thank him for expressing what they are still trying to absorb. “They are the living victims. They still have an…

The light was unmistakable. Not from the flames, dripping through the ceiling of an abandoned hallway, but from the sun, the actual sun. And there in the stairwell, at nearly 1,000 feet above the ground, a soft breeze carried the air – fresh air from the east – in through a gaping hole in the side of the skyscraper on a cloudless morning in New York City. Reflecting on that day nearly a decade ago, there’s a hint of regret in John Pyndus’ voice as he recalls seeing, with unparalleled clarity, the faces of those he knew who would never make it out alive. Perhaps it’s simply a realization, …

Editor's note: Many New Jersey residents saw firsthand the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. Now, 10 years later, we've asked some of them how the event changed their lives. We'll be sharing their stories all this week. Hoboken resident Howard Turoff remembers thinking it was a clear and beautiful day as he walked to the local PATH station on his way to work on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. He had no idea he was about to step onto the last train into lower Manhattan, to the biggest terrorist attack ever in the United States. The cars of the train were full. People were standing …

Editor's note: Many New Jersey residents saw firsthand the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. Now, 10 years later, we've asked some of them how the event changed their lives. We'll be sharing their stories all this week. Ron Viola laughs when he talks about the nicknames firefighters give each other. “Everyone has a nickname: Joey Bag of Donuts, Frankie Love Handles, Billy Bones,” Viola said Then growing serious, he pauses to add, “But on 9/11 they all had one name: Brother.” Everybody has a story about where they were when the planes hit the World Trade Center. If you’re old …

If this weekend your thoughts are somewhere other than family fun, you're not alone. Each week, Day Tripper visits destinations that are out of town, but in reach, suggesting weekend activities and adventures. But with the 10-year-anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on Sunday, our minds, and likely yours, are more on reflection than recreation. This week, we're reviewing trips you can take to honor those lost on 9/11. Memories of 9/11 will be at their most raw in the Tri-State Area, a region where so many people who worked at the World Trade Center made their homes. So it …

In view of the New York City skyline, two 208-foot long walls designed to resemble the Twin Towers lying on their sides create a space for reflection at Empty Sky, New Jersey's monument to those lost in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.  On Saturday, families will gather to dedicate the New Jersey 9/11 Memorial in Jersey City’s Liberty State Park. After the 11 a.m. ceremony, which will be open strictly to family members of victims, the memorial will officially open to the public. James “Rick” Cahill, of West Caldwell, Chairman of the New Jersey 9/11 Memorial Commission, who lost his …

Editor's note: Many New Jersey residents saw firsthand the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. Now, 10 years later, we've asked some of them how the event changed their lives. We'll be sharing their stories all this week. Steve Napolitano, who was the General Manager of the George Washington Bridge and Bus Station on Sept. 11, 2001, remembers standing on the sidewalk the day after the terror attacks, staring at the American flag workers had just unfurled on the bridge "while car horns beeped as they drove beneath it." “It was really important that we do that; that we hang that flag…

 The following was submitted by North Brunswick resident Elizabeth Dwyer. I was working in New York. My husband and I used to drive together to Newark Penn Station. I remember commenting on what a beautiful day it was, not a cloud in the sky, as we sat on Route 18 waiting to get on to the Turnpike. I was anxious to get to work that morning, we were on deadline for the biggest issue of the year. As we approached Exit 14, traffic was backed up. We looked over toward the Towers and we noticed that one tower was on fire. My Dad called to tell me that he had just seen the news of a plane hitting …

"This is the hour of lead Remembered if outlived, As freezing persons recollect the snow — First chill, then stupor, then the letting go."                        —Emily Dickinson Colleen Meehan Barkow and her mother JoAnn Meehan spent the weekend before Sept. 11, 2001, happily shopping for towels and linens for the 26-year-old's new home in the Poconos. Colleen and her husband Daniel, married less than a year, were planning to move into the house at the end of October. It meant a long commute into New York, where Colleen worked as a facilities director for Cantor Fitzgerald, on the 103rd …

Jennifer Gardner knew the instant her husband died.   “(The tower) hadn’t fallen yet but I knew he was gone,” Jennifer recalled. “I felt him leave me, slam out of my chest like an astronaut hurtling into space with a torn lifeline.” Her husband, Doug Gardner, 39, was an executive at Cantor Fitzgerald, an equity firm located on the 105 floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower. The day was Sept. 11, 2001, the day two commercial airplanes were hijacked by Islamic terrorists and crashed into the New York landmarks, killing nearly 3,000 people and leaving the world in stunned disbelief. …

Dr. Ken Freedman just had to do something.  “I saw the second plane hit and watched the two buildings come down and I knew I had to help,” said the local chiropractor. “I put a table in the car and drove to the Javitz center, and they said ‘OK, Work here on the sidewalk.' ” Dr. Freedman, like many in the area, remembers exactly where he was on Sept. 11, and he remembers exactly what he wanted to do next. After arriving at the Javitz Center and giving emergency workers adjustments throughout the day, he was moved to Ground Zero for a day, where he did the same for those who working on the pile…

It was time for a change. After terrorists hijacked four passenger planes and slammed two into the World Trade Center buildings, one into the Pentagon, and another into a field in Pennsylvania, the way professionals approach security for mass transportation needed an overhaul. For NJ Transit, which operates 2,027 buses, 771 trains and 45 light rail vehicles over a service area of 5,325 square miles that meant a change in mindset. “In the past we only focused on crime and great service to customers, but now, here at NJ Transit, what we try to drive home to all our officers is that their main …

The following was submitted by East Brunswick resident Veronica Sudia. On a beautiful summer day in August 2001, my mother, my son and I took the three-hour Circle Line Cruise.  It was a fantastic day and we were able to view New York in a unique way. On September 11, 2001, I was working in Newark, N.J., and witnessed the falling of Tower Two with many co-workers.  It was a devastating eyewitness and it truly felt like the world had stopped. Months later, I picked up some film I'd dropped off and was eager to see what surprise photos I'd find.  I was jolted when I came across this photo of my…

Like all Americans on that fateful day 10 years ago, South Brunswick resident Atiya Aftab was going about her normal daily routine on Sept. 11, 2001. She had just sent her eldest child off to kindergarten on a beautiful Tuesday morning, as the new school year had begun days earlier. "I remember sitting at home watching the Today Show with my newborn, and then witnessing the second tower falling," Aftab said. "Like most people, I had this feeling of 'oh my God what is going on.'  I had just sent my child off to school and I was scared for my relatives in New York City. I was just sitting there…

The following was submitted by East Brunswick Patch reader Daniel Marcus. On the morning of September 11, 2001 I was working at Uno's Pizzeria at the South Street Seaport.  I was a 19-year-old college sophomore at the time at Pace University just blocks away from the trade center. The Seaport itself was only six blocks away from the towers.  What I remember about that day comes and goes in flashes.  I remember moments, voices, and scenes but their order is hard to place in sequence.  I have never before written or spoken publicly about my experiences that day, but I feel after 10 years it's …

"A Letter to Caitlyn" "You asked your mom why everyone is so sad around your birthday and you wonder why you never got to meet your Uncle Johnnie. I hope I can help you understand. "Before you were born, there were two really big buildings in New York City called the Twin Towers. Your Uncle Johnnie worked on the 104th floor of the building, almost at the very top! He worked with bankers and had lots of friends who worked with him. "A week before you were born, a group of men who did not like our country, did a very bad thing. They hijacked airplanes, which means they forced the pilots to let …

During the summer, Patch began collecting readers' photos of the World Trade Center, a growing gallery in tribute to the Twin Towers. As the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks draws near, we'll be remembering New Jersey residents who died that clear September morning. But we also wanted to pay tribute to the towers—iconic symbols of hope and prosperity—when they stood tall and proud, dominating the New York City skyline.  We asked and you delivered, sending in more than a hundred photos statewide that represent your favorite memories: the shimmering skyline at nightfall, the view…