9/11 Families Remember

Miriam McDonald’s eyes filled with tears when she saw her son’s name inscribed on the ledge of one of the reflecting pools at the 9/11 Memorial. It read simply, Jerome O. Nedd.  The twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks was the first time she had visited the memorial. She recalled that on September 11, 2001, when she was a teacher in Brooklyn, “I could see the smoke from the school where I was working and I got worried.”

It took her twenty years to come to Ground Zero. “I couldn’t be near this site before,” she said. “It wasn’t until today that I had the courage to come.”  She stood at the reflecting pool at 7:30 am with an estimated 8,500 family members who attended the 20^th anniversary ceremony. Many of those family members, like Miriam, were there for the first time. Some were very young when the terrorists attacked and some were born after 9/11.

The family always remembers. Photo by Ana Maldonado.

Miriam McDonald wanted to talk about her son Jerome, who came to the United States from Trinidad when he was fourteen. He ran track at the City College of New York (CCNY) and won medals. Later on, he went to the New York Restaurant School and earned a certificate in culinary arts. That led to a job at Windows on the World on the 107^th floor of the North Tower.  He was at work when the American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower. He was 39-years-old.    “My daughter-in-law and grandchildren insisted that I come today,” she said, adding, “I don’t want to go inside the museum because I can’t stand the pain.”

Nearby, Gwendolyn Briley-Strand said she came to honor her brother Jonathan Eric Briley, a 43-year-old audiovisual technician working in the towers. “I can’t believe it’s been 20 years,” she said. I have been on various occasions to the anniversaries and it is a bittersweet experience.” Jonathan was preparing the audio for an event in the 107 floor of the North Tower when the plane flown by terrorists crashed into it.

Briley-Strand was in Washington D.C on September 11. She recalls smelling the smoke from the Pentagon when the American Airlines Flight 77 flew into it, but she worried about her brother in New York. “My family and I kept calling Jonathan’s cellphone, but he didn’t answer and we knew. There is a saying in my family, if you are early you are on time, and if you are on time you are late. He was early that day,” she said.

Flowers to remember. Photo by Ana Maldonado

Jonathan’s brother, Alexander Briley, was also at the memorial. They remembered him as somebody who offered a smile to everyone, a happy person who enjoyed life. They have given many interviews to the media and hope that people will remember the people killed on 9/11.

They, like others, listened to the reading of the names of all those who died on 9/11 and placed flowers on the memorial parapets. Hundreds more, who wished to remember and pay respects, waited outside the barricades for the end of the ceremony. Then they too entered the memorial to look, to reflect, to honor and remember.