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Cityscape of New York City at night

Where were you on 9/11?

This story is part of the Gary Sinise Foundation's effort to preserve firsthand memories of September 11 so future generations can learn from those who experienced it.

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Victor B.

was in Edison on 9/11/01.

I was in 2nd grade at an elementary school in Central New Jersey. My mom was the first person to come and pick me up. I knew something weird was up because my mother never used to come pick me up that early in the morning. My principal came into the room asked for me to come outside into the hallway and I asked him. Why is my mother here to pick me up and the only thing he told me his son your mother loves you. We then after picking me up when in my mother‘s car to pick up my older brother who was in the high school also in Central New Jersey that was where I saw my first images of the attack that was being projected on a large projector screen in the lobby of the high school we then went to my grandmother‘s house, and my mother was very frantic cause she’s from the Dominican Republic and she thought we were being attacked by a nation. We didn’t know at the time we were being attacked by a terrorist group, and my mother was frantically searching the house for gold that we could sell to go down to Florida and then get a boat to go to the Dominican Republic because my mom thought we were all gonna get sent to war in another moment was when the people started jumping off the towers, my grandmother who’s never quoted the Bible in her life started saying this is the end of the world. We’re all going to die. It was the scariest moment for me that day because my grandmother was always calm I think it was also the fact that my grandfather was a doctor and he was working in a hospital and she had no idea if he was gonna be able to come home because she thought the military was gonna put the hospitals under their control it was the craziest day and I remember everything may God bless those souls that died on 911 and may God bless the United States of America

Gary & Family at a vigil on Sept 14, 2001

A generation of Americans has no memory of 9/11. Stories like Victor's help them remember.

At the Gary Sinise Foundation, we're preserving the stories of those who experienced it so they can be shared with generations to come. We must never forget the pain we endured, the heroism we witnessed, or the togetherness we felt.

Your story is part of our history. Will you share it?

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