TEACHING IN A COMMUNITY THAT SUFFERED THE LOSS OF MANY FRIENDS AND FAMILY!

As the crow flies, School #6 in Cliffside Park, New Jersey to the World Trade Center is 7.3 miles.
I taught at this school for 30 years and on this horrific day, which started out just like any other school day, all hell broke loose. 1st period classes had just started. By 9:00 AM classes were in lockdown, awaiting further instructions. The news of a passenger jet hitting the North Tower of the World trade Center traveled fast. Shortly after 9:00AM the second airliner crashed into the South Tower and the phones in the office started to ring off of the hook. Concerned parents were showing up in droves to pick up their children.

We were instructed to keep our doors locked and move our students away from the windows. Several Cliffside Park policemen were now patrolling the hallways of our school. Announcements over the school's intercom system instructed the teachers when to release a student whose parent was waiting to take their child home. Within a few hours all of the students were gone.

Teachers were now gathered where ever there was a television. Gasps, and tears were all that could be heard from my colleagues. With our school being situated so close to the attack, the fear in the room was palpable. Much of our staff had gone through the Cliffside Park School System and still lived in town. Their concern now shifted from their students, who were no longer present, to their own families.

I had gotten in touch with @farm-mom shortly after the students were no longer present. Her voice echoed her concern and she just wanted me to get home. By 11:00AM I was out the door. I had talked to a few of my buddies who taught at the high school and met up with them on the cliffs, as they are referred to in town.

From this vantage point the Hudson River and much of the New York City skyline is in clear view, with the river's elevation 246 feet below from where we stood.

As we looked out over the river to our right, all we saw was exactly what you see in this picture taken from the cliffs in Hoboken, the next town over. By this time both towers had collapsed and the sound of sirens could be heard coming from every direction. The utter destruction and bellowing smoke from the ruins left us speechless.

F-15 Fighter jets were now patrolling the skies over New York City. These Super Sonic Jets roared up and down the Hudson River, just a few hundred yards from where we stood. Seeing this, I knew the world would be changed forever.
After viewing the obliteration of what had just stood hours before, we split up.
Fearing for our own safety and the safety of our loved ones, we left the cliffs that would never again be the same.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._military_response_during_the_September_11_attacks

Cliffside Park is located in Bergen County. Of the 2,753 people that died when the towers collapsed that day, 750 were from New Jersey. 147 Bergen County residents are among that number with 5 living in Cliffside Park. Bergen County honors the 147 who died on 9/11 with this WTC memorial in Overpeck County Park in Leonia.

In the days following this terrorist attack the names of the deceased started to surface. It seemed as though everyone new someone who had perished, or a family that had lost a loved one.

https://dailyvoice.com/new-jersey/fortlee/events/leonia-ceremony-honors-bergen-county-911-victims/680709/

Making my way home that day took several hours more than usual. The bridges and tunnels connecting New York and New Jersey were closed by the Port Authority. The route back home took me to the mouth of the George Washington Bridge. There was a steady flow of people leaving Manhattan by foot.

Some 500,000 people fled Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge in a matter of just hours, even as the area was blanketed in dust and debris.
https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20210909-across-the-brooklyn-bridge-and-back-remembering-the-day-that-changed-everything

The full scope of what carnage lie ahead became even more apparent
as I made my way west on Route 80. Ambulances, police cars, and many other emergency vehicles, with lights and sirens warning of their approach towards the destruction, sent chills down my spine.
When I arrived home the kids were all home watching the events unfold. When I asked them where Mom was they told me that she had been called into work. Many of the area hospitals stood poised to deal with the injured. Later that evening she arrived back home, breaking into tears as she stepped through the door. After several hours at the hospital the administration realized that her service wouldn't be necessary.
Few had survived that day and the few that did would be brought to facilities that were nearer to the fallen towers.