Looking back: Terror attack in 2001 remembered

It has been 25 years since four Al-Qaeda coordinated terrorists’ suicide attacks on the United States killed 2,477 people, injured thousands more and created longterm health issues for others. None of us alive on Sept. 11, 2001, will forget where we were, what we were doing or how we reacted when first knowing that at 8:46 a.m. an American Airlines plane slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center; a second plane crashed into the South Tower 9:03 a.m.; a third plane hit Washington’s Pentagon building 9:37 a.m. and a fourth enroute to strike the White House or Capitol building, was destroyed by heroic passengers in Shanksville, Pa., at 10:03 a.m.

On the exceptionally clear, bright Tuesday, I answered a land line phone call from a frantic woman acquaintance. Without conversation, as she demanded, I turned on my television set. Seeing that a plane crashed into the North World Trade Center building, I assumed there was a terrible accident. But when the second plane struck the South Tower, the visible truth was that two planes became destructive guided missiles. Fear, shock, and disbelief followed. Later, news reports confirmed that five people from West Milford were dead.

The Rev. Mychal Fallon Judge, pastor of St. Joseph Church, Echo Lake, 1979-1985, became New York City Fire Chaplain in1992. Rushing to the scene praying for firemen and dead people in the street, he was the first official casualty after debris from the falling South tower struck him. Published photos showed firemen carrying his body back to the firehouse. In 2016 Bishop Emeritus Serratelli blessed his memorial in St. Joseph Cemetery. A remnant of a steel beam from the World Trade Center is embedded in a marble base with “Mychal’s Prayer” engraved on it. Father Mychal is buried in the friar’s plot at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery, Totowa.

Jeremy Glick of West Milford, on Flight 93, flying to a company sales meeting in San Francisco, with three other men recovered the plane from the hijackers, crashing it into a Pennsylvania field. In a brief final phone call, he told his wife Lysbeth of the plan. West Milford honors him with the Jeremy Glick Trail and “Jeremy’s Overlook.” A daughter “Emerson,” was born to the couple just a few months before the attack.

Three others from West Milford perished when the plane struck the North Tower where they worked at 100th floor firms. Michael Zinzi, 31, of Newfoundland, was vice president of the CAPS division at Marsh and McClellan. A son, Dean, born to Michael and his wife Dylan, was nine weeks old when Michael died. Motorcycle enthusiasts, the couple enjoyed road trips on their 1999 Heritage Soft Tail Classic Harley. Michael and his dad rebuilt a 1956 K Model Harley. His memorial headstone is in the St. Clare section of St. Joseph Cemetery. Jean Caviasco DePalma, 41, of Newfoundland, routinely at her Marsh and McClellan desk at 6:40 a.m., emailed her brother that morning. A single parent, her teenage daughters are Drew and Jamie. Recently divorced she had emerged from a difficult period. She grew up in Ridgewood and was a tireless volunteer at St. Joseph Church and school. T.J. Hargrave, 38, and his six siblings, children of James and Kathryn Hargrave, grew up on Germantown Road. He was an avid reader, aspiring writer and champion high school wrestler a vice president at the Cantor Fitzgerald financial firm. T.J. and Patty went to DePaul High School in Wayne, married, lived in South Jersey, and had three daughters. Amy was four; Casey, six and Corrine eight when their dad was killed.

All who died are honored at the 9/11/01 Memorial Park created in front of the West Milford Municipal Building by an anonymous local businessman.