September 11th: The Day So Many Never Came Home

It has been thirteen years since the terrorist attacks on this country, but for many Americans, they will never forget seeing the planes hit and the towers fall.

But there is another image they will remember just as much: dozens of cars remaining in the parking lot at local train and bus stations on September 11, with very few - if any - coming by right away to pick them up.

And in the next coming days, many of the cars remained. For Manalapan and other area towns, it was clear: many of these people weren’t coming back.

Middletown, for example, which prides itself as the “biggest small town in New Jersey,” will never forget the events of September 11, 2001, and for an important reason: no other town lost more people per capita outside of New York City, with 37 residents who fell victim to the atrocious terrorist attacks that day.

Some were commuters who jumped on the North Jersey Coastline every day, taking the hour-long train commute that at times seemed to go slower than taking a car. Or they took the bus. Many New Jersey residents took the ferry that departs out of Highlands every day and drops commuters right into Manhattan.

The number of victims from Middletown makes it the second hardest hit city, and is perhaps the strongest example of how the events that day went far beyond the Twin Towers and into the very heart of every small town in America.

Many in Monmouth County know that commuting route so well, even if they have never taken it. You can see Manahattan from the shores of the Sandy Hook Bay. On the day of the attacks, hundreds of residents gathered on the beach of places like the Atlantic Highlands to see something no one could quite process or believe:

The acrid smoke billowed from those beloved fallen symbols, and in between the smoke clouds, just an emptiness remained that did not belong in the New York City skyline that residents here love looking across the short distance of the water and seeing.

Every year, on every anniversary, the tributes come back. Patch has included the names of residents lost in the attacks of September 11, 2001. The Middletown Township Council is also holding a wreath-laying ceremony for residents on Thursday, September 11, with a silent tribute at 8:46 a.m., the moment that marks the start of the terror attacks 13 years ago, when the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

The ceremony will be held at the Middletown WTC Memorial Gardens, located at the Arts Center. Township Committee members, as well as representatives of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2179, American Legion Post 338 and American Legion Post 515 are scheduled to participate. There will also be an American flag that was flown over the World Trade Center on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that will fly at the Memorial Gardens during the ceremony. In addition, an American Flag flown over the United States Capitol in memory of the Middletown victims will fly at Town Hall.

There is also a Patriot Day Ceremony for September 11 on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. at the Marlboro 9/11 Memorial Site at Recreation Way and Wyncrest Road.

Below is a list from CNN of Manalapan residents who were lost on September 11th. To see a complete list, visit: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-state/page19.html

Each victim’s name, age, employer, and where they were lost is shown. Please take a moment of your day on Thursday to honor these victims:

Manalapan:

Daniel Thomas Afflitto, 32; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center

Louis Aversano Jr., 58; Aon Corp.; United States World Trade Center

Steven Howard Berger, 45; New York State Department of Taxation and Finance; United States World Trade Center

Dominick E. Calia, 40; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center

James V. DeBlase, 45; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center

Salvatore A. Fiumefreddo, 47; IPC Kleinknect Electric Co.; United States World Trade Center

Salvatore Gitto, 44; Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc.; United States World Trade Center

Thomas McCann, 46; New York Fire Department; United States World Trade Center

Joseph Plumitallo, 45; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center