Residents remember 9/11

[Guest]

From the Cranbury Press

http://www.centraljersey.com/articles/2011/09/09/cranbury_press/news/doc4e692f543c137075464309.txt

CRANBURY — Sunday is the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, The Pentagon and United Airlines Flight 93, and everyone from the United States Senate to local residents are making sure the day is not forgotten and that Americans are not terrorized.

The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed a resolution calling on all American towns to participate in a moment of remembrance on Sept. 11.

After passing the resolution, the senators asked first responders, houses of worship, towns, and others throughout the country to sound sirens and bells in a signal to every American to stop and remember the 10th anniversary of the tragedies of Sept. 11.

”In an overwhelming demonstration of unity, the Senate unanimously passed the resolution with the cosponsorship of all 100 United States senators,” Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey said in a letter to the state’s municipalities. “These sirens and bells will be a signal for each person to stop and remember the people we lost and demonstrate the perseverance the American people have shown since that fateful day.”
The Cranbury Township Committee held a meeting Tuesday morning to formally accept Sen. Lautenburg’s request to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 the way the U.S. Senate suggested.

In Cranbury, the firehouse, fire trucks, police cars, and emergency medical vehicles will sound their sirens, and places of worship and Township Hall will ring their bells on Sept. 11 at 1 p.m.

”If all the municipalities do it, it will be really loud,” Committeeman Jay Taylor said.

According to Gov. Chris Christie’s Office, 746 victims of Sept. 11 were from New Jersey. This is the official count listed on the new memorial “Empty Skies” in Jersey City to be dedicated this Saturday. This number includes all victims of Sept. 11 who once called New Jersey home, in addition to those who lived in New Jersey on Sept. 11, 2001.

A total of 677 victims (of the 746 total) were current residents of New Jersey when they died on Sept. 11, according to the Governor’s Office.

The senate encourages all work or other activity to cease for a moment of remembrance beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Sept. 11 in honor of the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks committed against the United States.

Todd Beamer, the passenger who courageously led the group that retook control of Flight 93, was from Cranbury.

At 9:45 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, Mr. Beamer, 32, talked to GTE supervisor Lisa D. Jefferson, to report that his plane had been hijacked by three terrorists armed with knives and a bomb tied to one of their midsections with a red belt.

Mr. Beamer said he had been forced into the back of the coach section of the plane with 26 other passengers. The 10 other passengers were herded toward the front of the plane in the first-class section. Toward the end of his conversation with Ms. Jefferson, Mr. Beamer said he and some of the other passengers had decided to “jump on” the terrorist wearing the bomb. In the midst of the commotion and chaos that ensued after this decision, Mr. Beamer asked Ms. Jefferson to recite The Lord’s Prayer with him and, before he dropped the phone, made her promise to contact his family. Ms. Jefferson later told Ms. Beamer that the last words her husband said before the line went silent were, “Are you ready guys? Let’s roll!”

The 1 p.m. commemoration of Sept. 11 on Sunday will be in memory of Mr. Beamer and all other locals who died or were affected in any way by the terrorist attacks.

”We’re working hard to make sure the memory of those who lost their lives that day are honored,” Mr. Taylor said.

Cranbury Township Hall’s bell will join church and hall bells across the country at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.

Mr. Taylor worked on the 101st floor of the South Tower for Aon, an insurance consulting company. Luckily on the day the planes hit he was golfing in Connecticut with an insurance company.

”Luckily we scheduled a golf match with a carrier. A ranger came out to us and said we were under attack. We were thinking it was a little plane. Nobody was expecting it to be what it was.”

Chief Rickey Varga of the Cranbury Police stayed with the Police Department in Cranbury to make sure the town remained safe. At the time he was a patrolman.
He was returning from a response to a motor vehicle accident when he first heard the news.

”I was pulling up to headquarters when I heard one of the towers was hit by a plane. I walked into the headquarters and started doing my report (on the motor vehicle accident). Other police were buzzing about, making our own determinations about how big the hole (in the tower) was, when we actually saw live the second plane hit the second tower. When I talk about it I still get chills up and down my spine.”

He said after hearing about Mr. Beamer, Cranbury police were assigned to the Beamer residence for security purposes. He called Mr. Beamer “a national hero”.

In Monroe, some of the Emergency Medical Service personnel were dispatched to Liberty Park to help the victims who were sent there by ferry.

”I was having breakfast,” said Councilman Irwin Nalitt of Monroe. He said Lee Farber, a fellow councilwoman at the time, told him to turn on the TV because something terrible was happening.

”Looking at the pictures and the destruction, it was a totally helpless feeling,” he said.