Jets serve as daily reminder for survivor

By Jason Alley

Jim Caleca still jumps a little every time a jet flies over his Romulus workplace.

Considering that he works for Central Distributors of Beer Inc, which is about one-half mile from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, that is many reminders every day of a sound he heard last Sept. 11 that he'd never forget.

Running through the debris-covered streets of New York City with thousands of strangers after the first tower of the World Trade Center was struck by a hijacked airliner, he heard the roaring of the second aircraft coming in and smashing into the second tower.

"Every time I hear a jet now, it gives me a tinge of anxiety," said Caleca, 45.

"I have no control of it. For a brief second, I'm a little jumpier than I used to be."

Caleca, a father of five who was in New York on business last year, said a day doesn't go by when he doesn't think back to what happened that day.

"There really isn't any closure to it," he said. "It's not a done deal yet. You hear about it almost every single day."

After returning home, he talked to a therapist, which he said was very helpful.

"When I first got back, I wondered if this was the end of the world ... and if there was more terrorism on the horizon," he said.

Over time, he said, his worries have started to lessen.

"You can't live your life in fear," he said. "You have to move forward.

"I have a much greater appreciation now for my family and for the country and for the freedoms we have and for our civic servants."

Caleca was staying at the Marriott World Trade Center, located in the third tower, the one closest to the two that the hijacked jets crashed into, when the first tower was hit.

"It shook the building," he said. "The only thing I could think of is that this must be how it feels to sit through an earthquake."

Seconds later, he heard another loud crashing boom. Afterward, he realized that the first noise was the jet hitting the building and the second sound was the explosion caused by the crash.

"I leaned back in my chair, looked up and all I could see was a ball of fire," he said.

"I couldn't even see the tower. I only could see the fire and debris."

Realizing something horrible had just happened, he and the other people at the seminar started climbing down the three flights of stairs to the ground level of the hotel.

"I went out the side door and all I could smell was jet fuel and all I could see was paper flying all over," he said.

"There were ambulances everywhere and people pouring out into the streets. I looked up and was literally horrified ... and in total disbelief."

Not knowing anyone in the area and thinking that a bomb had just gone off, he tried to use his cell phone to call his work and his family, but all the lines were dead.

"I just wanted to get out of New York City," he said.

"I heard a woman scream and I looked over and up and saw the people who were jumping from the building. Several people were falling down. That was horrifying."

It was at that moment that he learned that it was a jet that had crashed into the tower.

In a way, he said, that was a blessing because he thought that maybe it had all been an accident.

"I then heard another woman really scream, 'Oh, my God!' and I could hear the second jet screaming in," he said.

"From the ground where I was, I thought it was a missile. I didn't see the wings of the plane. I was terrified now because I knew this was no accident."

He started running. Where, he didn't know. Anywhere away from the twin towers was the safest bet, he was thinking.

"All the while, I'm wondering if another one is on its way or if I'd ever see my kids again," he said.

After jumping down an 8-foot wall, he kept running until he ended up at the dock for a ferryboat. He got on the last ferry that left that day for New Jersey.

"I got on the boat and saw the Statue of Liberty, which was ironic looking at under these circumstances," he said.

"I then saw another boat coming in with National Guardsmen, armed with their guns. It was a real awkward feeling."

After some luck in finding a hotel room in New Jersey thanks to the help of some business associates, Caleca was finally able to start digesting the day's events.

"I got in my room and dropped to my knees and thanked God I was alive," he said. "To this moment, I still don't believe it."

The next day, Caleca discovered that he still had his Marriott room key in his pocket; the key has "World Trade Center" inscribed on it.

He keeps that key as a reminder of surviving the deadly day.

- Courtesy of the News-Herald Newspapers

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