Residents Share 9/11 Memories
It's been 23 years since the dreadful 9/11 attacks and people still have vivid memories of that fateful day. They shared some of them with the Man on the Street.
”I was making a delivery, and a TV in the house was showing it. I couldn’t believe what was happening; it didn’t seem real. When we realized what was going on, it was devastating. The company put together donations of food, clothes, dog food, and l drove them into the city to the Red Cross.”—Harry Doughty, Central Islip
“I was on the B Train crossing the Manhattan Bridge when the conductor said the last stop would be Canal Street. We didn’t know what was going on. Everyone got out, and l walked over the 59th Street Bridge. It took me nine hours to get home to Bensonhurst by walking and hitchhiking. Financial documents were raining down all over Brooklyn. I still have some of them from Windows on the World and insurance companies.”—Justin Betz, Mastic Beach
“I was working at Luitpold Pharmaceuticals, and we went into lockdown. No one told us anything; we were horrified. Finally, they let us go home, and my daughter was already there with some friends from school. Their mother and aunt worked in the city, and we didn’t know what happened to them. Thankfully, they were okay. It was very scary. The company shipped medicine to the city in school buses and fire trucks. It was dreadful, especially after we found out what really happened.”—Kathy Walsh, Mastic
“I was on Woodhaven Boulevard in Queens when l heard about it over the radio on Z100. I pulled over and could see the smoke. I watched in disbelief as both towers went down. I flew home since the traffic wasn’t that bad. It was worse going into the city.”—Rich Goslin, Shirley
“I was at work, and we heard it on the radio. They sent everybody home. We were in shock. After the attacks, my husband, Tom Niehoff, went to work building 9-11 monuments,”—Denise Coppola, Mastic Beach
“I was a school principal in the city at the time and was told about it by an assistant principal. We were numb, the same as everyone else. I remember looking down the street where the towers used to be, and I saw an open skyline. At that moment, it became real.—Frank Fugarino, Mastic Beach