By Jim Cameron
No single event in my lifetime had a greater impact than 9-11. And for veteran commuters it is still fresh in their minds. So I asked them to share some of those memories, excerpted below (longer remembrances can be found here).
“I was just entering my office at 48th and Madison Avenue when building security told me that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. At first, I thought he must have been referring to a Cessna or some other small plane hitting a tower by accident. It was only when I got upstairs to my office that I could see down Madison Avenue to the smoke rising from one of the towers,” wrote one commuter.
After the attack, subway and train service was suspended, leaving commuters to get home via Grand Central on their own.
“When we were finally able to leave the building I headed directly to GCT. It was still locked down and a crowd of people were waiting to get in to take a train out of the city. When they did let the crowd in, I went to the front car. I remember the car had police in the front of the car and when we started to move through the tunnel to exit GCT the police and engineer were looking at the tracks. Didn’t understand why until later when it was explained to me that there were concerns that bombs had been placed I the tunnel. The train was so quiet and my last memory was a man in the car in a suit covered in grayish/ white dust,” wrote one commuter.
And from another rider… “As the trains filled up, they left GCT. I remember sitting across the aisle on the train back home from a guy who was wearing suit pants and an undershirt covered in soot, dirt, and smoke. He must have started the day with a jacket and tie, but lost them along the way. He talked a little about his experience trying to get out of the Wall Street area and said how many people were in distress and how he had stopped to help some as he made his way uptown. There were so many unsung heroes from that day who simply stopped to help others in need. I think that’s how he lost his jacket, shirt, and tie.”
The September 11th Memorial in Cos Cob Park features two 12-foot-tall glass towers with an American flag motif that honor local victims of the attacks. Photo: Leslie Yager
And from a Stamford commuter…
“The commute back from Manhattan to Stamford that day was quite eerie. Although business had immediately shut down, it took a while for GCT to be secured and reopened. Once it did, the walk to GCT was eerily quiet. When we pulled in to Stamford Station, the taxi staging area was filled with ambulances.”
Retired Captain Thom Lombard from the Stamford Police Department remembers:
“On September 11 I was the Emergency Management Director for Stamford. We were notified that remains of victims would be brought to Stamford. I made arrangements for the use of refrigerated trucks and enlisted the assistance of local funeral directors to store remains in their facilities. All but one agreed to assist. No bodies were recovered (that day).”
But the pain of 9-11 didn’t end that day, as David Parent of Wallingford recounts:
“What I remember most was what I never saw: the family and friends who had to go to the train station parking lots to retrieve the cars of loved ones who were never coming home.”
“Connecticut Explored” magazine’s Fall 2026 issue contains photos of some of the memorials to 9-11 in our state, including a discreet plaque at the Glenbrook Station honoring Sean Rooney who died in the south tower after climbing stairs to try to reach the roof hoping for rescue, which never came.
Sean Rooney Memorial. Photo courtesy of Luke G Boyd
And in Westport at Sherwood Island State Park is a more impressive, black granite memorial with 161 names, many of them commuters.
CT 9-11 Living Memorial View. Photo courtesy of Luke G Boyd
It seems only fitting on this, the 25th anniversary of the attacks, that we remember those Connecticut commuters who perished. Let’s keep them and all of their loved ones in our thoughts this week.
Special thanks to Connecticut Explored magazine and photographer Luke G Boyd.
JIM CAMERON has lived in Darien for over 30 years. He serves on the Darien RTM and is Program Director of Darien TV79. He served 19 years on the CT Metro-North Rail Commuter Council, four as its Chairman. In 2014 he founded a new advocacy group, The Commuter Action Group which advocates on behalf of Metro-North riders. His newspaper column “Talking Transportation” runs in several newspapers as well as Greenwich Free Press. Archives can be found at www.talkingtransportation.blogspot.com
You can contact Jim at [email protected]