Middletown, N.J. And September 11: The Day So Many Never Came Home

It has been 13 years since the terrorist attacks on this country, and many Americans will never forget seeing the planes hit the New York skyline and watching the Twin 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 - of the drivers coming back right away to pick them up.

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

Middletown, 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 falling victim to the 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 Middletown 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 Middletown 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:

Lorraine D. Antigua, 32; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center

Stephen J. Cangialosi, 40; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center

Christopher Newton Carter, 52; Sandler O’Neill & Partners; United StatesWorld Trade Center

Dolores Marie Costa, 53; Fred Alger Management; United States World Trade Center

Michael Egan, 51; Aon Corp.; United States World Trade Center

David Francis Ferrugio, 46; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center

John Michael Grazioso, 41; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center

Patrick Aloysius Hoey, 53; Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; United States World Trade Center

Kathleen (Casey) Hunt, 43; Sandler O’Neill & Partners; United States World Trade Center

Rosanne P. Lang, 42; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center

Anna A. Laverty, 52; Fiduciary Trust International; United States World Trade Center

Peter T. Milano, 43; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center

Louis Joseph Minervino, 54; Marsh USA; United States World Trade Center

James Thomas Murphy, 35; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center

Paul R. Nimbley, 42; Cantor Fitzgerald MiddletownNJUnited StatesWorld Trade Center2002-03-08

Robert Emmett Parks Jr., 47; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center

John M. Pocher, 36; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center

Richard James Stadelberger, 55; Fiduciary Trust International; United States World Trade Center

Anthony M. Ventura, 41; Fiduciary Trust International; United States World Trade Center

Rodney James Wotton, 36; Fiduciary Trust International; United States World Trade Center

Ronald Michael Breitweiser, 39; Fiduciary Trust International; United States World Trade Center

Justin J. Molisani Jr., 42; Euro Brokers Inc.; United States World Trade Center

Belford:

Jane S. Beatty, 53; Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc.; United States World Trade Center

Nicholas P. Pietrunti, 38; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center

Leonardo:

Alfred Braca, 54; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center

Fairview:

Danny A. Correa-Gutierrez, 25; Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc.; United States World Trade Center

Lincroft:

Patrick Joseph Buhse, 36; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center

Locust:

Swede Joseph Chevalier, 26; Cantor Fitzgerald; United States World Trade Center

Not included on the prior list, but memorialized by Middletown at the Middletown Memorial Gardens:

Donna Bernaerts-Kearns

Edward Desimone III

Daniel J. Gallagher

Felicia Hamilton

Brendan Mark Lang

Michael Patrick McDonnell

John M. Pocher

Beth Ann Quigley

Greg Reidy

Robert Andrew Spencer

Kenneth Tietjen

To see the complete list of names honored at the Middletown Memorial Gardens, go to: http://www.middletownnj.org/content/memorialgardens.html