MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Throughout time there have been moments that have redefined nations and changed the course of history. There have been life-altering moments that speak volumes of the horror in the hearts of some and resilience in the souls of others. Those moments have become so intertwined with our existence that their dates have been seared into our hearts. Just mentioning those dates can bring a flood of images to mind that drown the heart with emotions and make breathing a laboring task. For past generations December 7, 1941 was such date. For today’s generation September 11, 2001 is another.
September 11th now stands as a phrase that summarizes the separate stories of everyone affected on that day. It summarizes the actions of men and women aboard a hijacked plane, who are now known as the Heroes of United Flight 93. It summarizes the story of almost 3,000 people who lost their lives to acts of terror as people all over the world looked on in disbelief. For the individuals who survived the attacks, the date now stands as a reminder of events that changed the course of their lives.
For Staff Sgt. Jay M. Santiago, Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron staff-noncommissioned officer in charge, and his family, the date is a personal one they remember with solemn reverence, thankful that they are still together.
“To tell the truth, it’s been hard these past 10 years,” said Santiago. “I’ve been to the therapy they recommended… and it helps … but I own every single documentary that was created of it, and I haven’t been able to watch them yet. It was something I will never forget and something I am reminded of every year with a post card from the World Financial Center Health Registry.”
Ten years ago in their New Jersey home, Santiago and his family opened their eyes to a new autumn day unaware that at the same time 19 al-Qaeda operatives were beginning to put a horrific plan in motion that would change their lives forever.
After dropping their 3-yearold son Joshten at daycare and seeing their 5-yearold daughter Destynee to school, Santiago and his wife Madelyn Santiago made their way to Grand Central station to go to work. Santiago worked in the North Tower for Merill Lynch. At the time, Madelyn Santiago was attending school at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
“We went to the train,” said Madelyn Santiago. “He would always go south, and I would go north. We were on opposite platforms, so we could see each other. Usually my train would leave first, and he would always see me off. But that morning, I was looking at him and all of a sudden his train came and he was off.”
That moment became rooted in both their minds. As Santiago began his day at the office, fire alarms started to go off. Thinking it was a routine fire alarm, he and his co-workers filed out of the office into the streets.
“When we went outside it was all a commotion,” said Santiago. “No one knew what was going on.”
Santiago made his way across the street to the post office, on Church Street, when he stopped and looked up. At the time of the attacks, there was a movie being filmed in the area. Santiago thought what he saw might have been part of the movie until he saw something else.
“I stood there, and I saw the actual hole in the building and just didn’t know what was going on until I saw this lady standing by the hole… and she jumped,” said Santiago. “I thought, ‘why was she jumping? There’s no netting on the ground.’ Until she actually hit the ground… That’s when I realized there was something going on.”
Everyone wanted to help somehow but no one knew how. They just looked on in disbelief as people kept jumping out of the building when something else came into view.
“We then saw the second plane coming in,” said Santiago. “The plane went around the buildings, went over to Staten Island, and you could see it go by the Statue of Liberty and then it came back to the South Tower. That’s when we realized it was an attack. I recall seeing how the plane came into the building window by window, the exploding debris.”
Further commotion seized the crowded streets. No one knew what to do as they looked at the smoking towers.
“We just stood there,” said Santiago. “Time passed and then the building collapsed… the South Tower first. When it collapsed, we were trapped. When it collapsed, there were five of us under a trailer. We stayed there and all you could hear was just sirens, screaming and crying. Nobody knew what to do.”
Across the city, 50 blocks away, Madelyn Santiago was directed from her classroom into the auditorium. On her way she glanced at a TV and saw an image of New York City. Her chest caved into her heart as she looked at the screen.
“The Towers were gone,” said Madelyn Santiago. “There was nothing left. At that moment I was looking at the TV and I was in shock. I kept thinking, ‘he’s dead, he’s dead.’”
Madelyn Santiago walked into the streets toward her mother’s house 20 blocks away. A toxic burnt smell and a cloud of dust had seized the city.
“It was like the end of the world,” said Madelyn Santiago. “Everyone was freaking out and crying. It was like a mass exodus. People were just walking and walking, hypnotized.”
Madelyn Santiago was overwhelmed with the thought that her husband was dead, thinking about the last time she saw him at the subway.
Back at ground zero, Santiago was still trapped underneath a trailer with five other people. Their cell phones were down and they were unable to communicate with anyone outside.
“We tried screaming for help and nobody came, so we just stayed there,” said Santiago.
As the horror of the day wore on, Santiago and the others remained trapped. Hours rolled by and they fell silent. Santiago began to think about the moments of his life.
“I remembered when I got married, I remembered when my kids were born, I remembered when I was in the Marine Corps prior… the places I’d been too,” said Santiago. “You actually run through your life. I didn’t think I was going to make it out of there.”
The heat and burning smell surrounded them. They all thought they were not going to make it out. Hope started to grip their hearts when they heard firemen yelling out “Does anyone need help? Is there anyone alive!” They frantically started to dig from the inside out.
“We started banging making noise and that’s how the firemen started digging us out,” said Santiago. “It was like being born again. They pulled us out.”
After being looked over by emergency medical services, Santiago was released. Wearing a shredded suit covered in debris, reeking of gasoline and the smell that gripped the city, he started his long walk home. He was still unable to contact family. When he finally arrived around midnight, he found them holding a vigil for him; they all thought he was dead.
“I saw him coming down the block,” said Madelyn Santiago. “I ran and then he ran, and all we could do was hug and cry. He was saying a lot of things, but I couldn’t hear him. All I could think about was him actually being there.”
They both started to make their way back to their New Jersey home and their children. The children were in the care of a neighbor.
Destynee was only five-years-old at the time, but she still remembers when she saw her parents.
“I was relieved,” she said. “I was happy, and it was emotional for me. My mother was hysterical and my dad was covered in glass and stuff.”
The next few months were hard for the whole country. For Santiago and his family, it was especially difficult.
“I would come from school and he was in his pajamas sitting there,” said Destynee. “I wanted to comfort him, but I knew I couldn’t.”
Months passed and Santiago finally found a way to move forward. He decided to re-enlist in the Marine Corps and serve his country. “I came back to the Marine Corps because I wanted to do something so it wouldn’t happen again,” said Santiago.
Ten years have passed since the September 11 attacks. It’s been 10 years since Santiago’s family was irrevocably changed by the plans laid out by terrorists.
“Everything that we had known up to that time is gone,” said Madelyn Santiago. “We were never the same people, the same family, the same husband, the same wife. It was never the same, and it was all in the blink of an eye. It just happened.”
After 10 years of hunting for the man who changed the lives of millions, Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 plot, was finally brought to justice May 1.
Santiago couldn’t believe it when he received the news from his wife.
“I had to ask her over four times, ‘are you sure,’” said Santiago.
He was sick at home the day he picked up the phone and received the news from his wife.
“I could finally bring closure to it,” said Santiago. “I could finally say it’s over. We don’t have to drag it out any longer. It’s done.”
Sunday, people all over the world will remember what happened 10 years ago. People will remember a different version of the same event. They all have something different to say.
“People have to remember, this happened to everyone at the same time,” said Madelyn Santiago. “This is just one account of many. In a minute we witnessed a lifetime of hurt and pain and recovery. It’s not something that should ever be forgotten. It was a sad thing. This is what happened to us, our family and our country.”