9/11/2001 – Tom Guard – Greyhound Bus Driver

Left Cleveland at 2 am

Due in New York City Port Authority Bus Terminal 10:55 am

Taken from the archive of an old GeoCities page. http://web.archive.org/web/20090722034502/http://geocities.com/casperthebooo/9112001.html

i never imagined…

that I would be a part of history, or get to see the cruel making of history in my own eyes, in my own life time.

It was September 11th 2001. I was driving a bus full of passengers to NYC from Cleveland, Ohio. I had departed Cleveland at 2am, bound for the Big Apple at 10:55am. I never made it to NYC that day.

Smoke from Twin towers from Newark, NJ

Just before I reached the state of New Jersey, I stopped at a rest area just inside the Pocono Mountain Region on Interstate 80. While listening to the Howard Stern show on my walkman during the break, I heard the news. A plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I didn’t think much of it.  Just before I got into the state of New Jersey, I pulled into a rest stop with my passengers.  After departing, there was more news, a second plane had crashed into the WTC. I knew this was not an accident.  There were only two people on the bus that know what was going on. Me and another passenger with a walkman.

It was before 10 am and I could see the smoke rise behind the city of Newark, NJ. The moment I could see the smoke from the Towers, my mouth went dry and my palms started to sweat. The headphones to my Walkman started to fill with sweat as the anxiety poured into my soul.  While smoke was visible from the towers, I told my passengers that New York was closed. All bridges and tunnels were closed after two planes crashed into the world trade center.    I figured once my passengers saw the smoke coming out of the tops of the towers, they wouldn’t start questioning me while I was so damn nervous.  I had them direct their questions to Greyound at penn station.

My passengers and I has made it as far as Newark, the neighbor of a city that was in shock that day. The bridges and tunnels into NYC were closed. New York city was closed.

I didn’t want to stay in Newark. I diverted to Albany, NY. While en route to Albany, I was able to see the disaster. I pulled my bus over on I-95 or the Jersey Turnpike and this is where I captured the essence of an act of hate.

Image taken from https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7326457,-74.1592252,3a,75y,120.56h,79.98t/data=!3m9!1e1!3m7!1sgQxOQ-_iiHpxl55xIT3nAw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!9m2!1b1!2i38

Towers Collapsing but didn’t realize it.

Estimated location https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7133866,-74.0541998,3a,60y,76.6h,82.04t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s4B-1YzBjh8NCLr8dXmlizw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Howard Stern Radio on 9/11