Where were you?
It’s become a common question to ask those who remember the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Employees at the Church Street Station Post Office, across the street from the Twin Towers, were forever changed that day.
“It’s always on my mind,” said Customer Services Supervisor Sandra Hecht.
“When I meet new people and they ask me where I work and they hear that I worked down by the World Trade Center, they always want to know what it was like.”
Emma Thornton, now retired, was working as a letter carrier that day and recalled the chaos in a National Postal Museum video.
Thornton was preparing for her route — floors 77 through 110 of the North Tower — when the first plane hit.
She spoke of her emotional reunions with customers who came in to collect their mail days later.
Despite learning many were fine, Thornton and her co-workers faced a sobering reality: Some customers wouldn’t be coming to get their mail.
“You never knew what happened to them,” Thornton said. “They just disappeared.”
Said Hecht: “It is always hard for me to explain what went on that day without crying. I know I will never forget where I was on Sept. 11, 2001.”