Remembering South Brunswick's 9/11 Victims

Wednesday marks the 12th anniversary of the devastating terror attacks that toppled the World Trade Center and left thousands dead.

Among the victims killed in the Twin Towers were Jeffrey Robinson, 38, of Monmouth Junction, Kenneth Ledee, 38, of Monmouth Junction and Toyena Skinner, 27, of Kingston.  A fourth man with local ties who was killed on 9/11, Mukul Agarwala, 37, graduated from South Brunswick High School, but was living in New York City at the time of his death on 9/11.

Immediately after the attacks in 2001, South Brunswick Police coordinated with New York City Police to identify the township residents who were unaccounted for and never returned home from work. Over the first 48 hours, the SBPD determined the three residents who did not return home after going to work at the World Trade Center.  

In the days following the attacks, officers from South Brunswick were sent into New York City to assist with the search and rescue efforts.

"The events of that day are etched in all our memories as a wound that will never completely heal," said South Brunswick Police Chief Raymond Hayducka in a prior interview. 

The names of South Brunswick's lost are now immortalized with many other victims in the recently completed Empty Sky Memorial in Jersey City.

The memorial is etched with the names of 746 New Jersey residents who lost their lives on that day. The $12 million memorial sits in the park where first responders gathered to launch rescue efforts a decade ago.

The memorial’s long, parallel walls recall the shape of the Twin Towers if they were lying on their sides, and when you walk between them, your gaze is directed across the Hudson River toward the spot in lower Manhattan where the buildings once stood. The brushed stainless steel of the walls captures the changing reflections of the clouds, weather and skyline.