Twenty-one years ago, four years before the class of 2023 was born, America was attacked by evil, creating a wave of despair, anger, and memories that still haunt us. While for our school community, September marks an exciting time of returning back to these hallways, the month is also covered by a cloud of sadness that sits there, begging us to remember those men and women who lost their lives, simply because they worked in a building, or caught a flight that was doomed.
Though the students of Brick Memorial High School, and the entire Brick Township School District, did not experience the horror of the September 11th attacks, it’s important for them to learn the history and emotional impact of that day and the days that followed.
Robert Futrell, the ROTC instructor at BMHS, was in the Air Force for ten years when the attacks occurred. Though in North Carolina at the time, he recalls “the news broadcast showing dozens or more firefighters and other first responders walking toward the Twin Towers before they fell. Then after the towers fell, there were only a few walking back out of the cloud of dust and debris. Everyone else was gone.”
Mayte Perez, whose daughter a senior at BMHS, recalls getting a call from her sister, who was in the city. Helpless, and pregnant with her son, she watched TV, praying that her sister was going to be okay, horrified by the idea that no one knew when the attacks would actually be over.
Having slept in on that morning, Mrs. Bridget Petrulla, teacher at BMHS, recalls waking up to a phone call from her panicked mother, demanding she turn on the television to see what was happening. Petrulla still feels a wave of emotion when she thinks about that day. As the memory remains strong in her mind, so does the rise of patriotism and connection. “Fear did, in a weird way, bring everyone together. It was weirdly a high time for camaraderie.”
Tammy Triano, whose son is a junior at BMHS, echoes the sentiment, as each year on September 11th, she is reminded of what she felt that day and of the lives lost inside the towers and the brave first responders who sacrificed their lives attempting to save those trapped inside. “This single day united a country and changed countless lives.”
For many, such as Michael Radice, father of a freshman at BMHS, denial set in. Despite seeing the terrible images, and having them become permanent tattoos on our brains, Michael could not accept what he was seeing, hoping and praying that he was imagining this awful event.
Richie Bassin was stationed at the Coast Guard Maintenance Augmentation Team in Bayonne, NJ. The morning of the attack, he and his team were working on the 175-foot buoy tender Katherine Walker that was on the base. While working on this buoy, they noticed a plane was flying really close to the ground. They didn’t know what was going on, if the plane was going to crash into the harbors or not. Soon after, the first plane crashed into the first tower. Bassin and his team didn’t know what to do. After seeing a second plane hit the other tower, the team knew this couldn’t be just an accident. So the higher-ranked Coast Guardsmen started making phone calls and soon found out that the Pentagon was also attacked. No one was allowed to come in or leave the base. Becoming nervous as reality set it, Bassin called his wife and son to tell them what was going on and that he didn’t know when he would be home. The towers were now collapsing and, eventually, Bassin could smell smoke from the fire. “All the way from Bayonne, you still felt like you were right there in New York.” As days went by, Bassin and his team went to Ground Zero to do whatever they could to help. To this day, some sounds and smells trigger memories for Richard Bassin, whose daughter is a senior at Brick Memorial High School.
Being a Tuesday in September, students across the country were sitting in classrooms, learning necessary lessons in writing, mathematics, and history, not realizing that history was happening simultaneously. After only knowing their teachers for a short time, an immediate bond was built when students watched their teachers, those assigned to keep them safe, be strong for them, despite their desire to cry in fear and anger. Erika Romero, whose daughter attends BMHS, was in fourth grade when the attacks occurred. She recalls the then-popular “tv on a cart” being wheeled in by her teacher, only to learn that this was not going to be a surprise, fun movie for the class to watch; the tv was turned on just in time to see the second tower fall.
As she enters her 31st-year, teacher of English and Literature at Brick Memorial High School, Lea Gunther recalls teaching in room 205 (for the new wing of the building had not yet been built) and hearing rumors of a plane crash. Gunther turned on a little corner television and witnessed the events with her students, who looked to her for guidance and comfort. To commemorate 9/11, she records any and all programs she can find because “it’s important someone remembers … It was a horrible day, but it was a reminder that good always overcomes evil. Despite that evil, everyone came together.”
On September 11, 2022, the events of this day will surely be on the minds of those who remember it, but the phrase “Never Forgot,” now cemented to the memory of the attacks, should not be limited to those who were alive on that disastrous day. Students at Brick Memorial High School, and all over the world, need to take a moment and reflect on the stories of their elders, for it’s with an appreciation of history that we appreciate what we have, the people around us, and the heroes that protect us every day.
Contributing Writers to this piece:
Aiden Bennett, Marriona Boland, Gianna Gubitosa, Stephanie Lopez, Melanye Perez, Giavana Scott, Molly Thamrong, Connor Triano, Isabelle Wurmser
