Yardley Woman Who Lost Son On 9/11 Recalls 'Unimaginable' Attack On World Trade Center
YARDLEY, Pa. (CBS) -- The Garden of Reflection in Yardley serves as a memorial for those lost on September 11, 2001, honoring the thousands of lives lost and forever changed 20 years ago. Judi Reiss visits the garden with her family to reflect on the 18 Bucks County residents lost, and the loss they themselves have experienced.
"The newspaper man came by and asked him, 'Are you big enough to deliver papers?' I know they meant old enough, but they said big enough he said, 'Sure am,'" she recalled, describing her late son Josh.
Josh, 23, was always up to something but was a bright light to everyone he knew.
Reiss told CBS3 it was no surprise when he became a young executive at the prestigious Canter Fitzgerald financial firm. The firm was located inside the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
The young man hadn't been there a year when the terrorist attack happened, becoming one of the 2,977 people killed in the tragedy.
"We got a call from Deutsche Bank, one of the traders, to tell us, 'We don't want you wandering around, wondering where he is. I was on the phone with him, he told me a plane hit the building. He was going to try to get out, but he was there and you need to know.'" Reiss remembered, describing to Eyewitness News the moment she realized her child was gone.
After living every parent's nightmare, Reiss is now tasked with keeping her son's memory alive. It has been nearly 20 years since that day, 20 years since the country was thrust into war. That's a war Reiss says lasted too long.
"Once we had Osama Bin Laden, we should we should've left Afghanistan," she said.
Reiss and her family are grateful the community built the remembrance garden in honor of the nearly 3,000 people lost on Sept. 11.
"It was unimaginable. It was completely unimaginable that this could happen in one of the biggest cities in the world, in a place where everyone's life has changed," she said.
Reiss will speak Saturday at a remembrance ceremony in Yardley.
