Guy Benson Remembers 9/11 Nineteen Years Later

In today’s Guy Benson Show opening monologue Guy recounted his experiences on 9/11 nineteen years later. Guy remembered that day by saying,

“I sometimes give pieces of my own story, not that it matters that much. Far less consequential than so many others. But to give you a sense of sort of my age and my little place in the world. I was 16, so I was a junior in high school. Ridgewood High School. Home of the Maroons, Ridgewood, New Jersey. A lot of mothers and fathers in Ridgewood commuted into New York City, into Manhattan, into lower Manhattan. Including my own father. Every day. My dad worked in lower Manhattan at the time, he did four years. He would commute through the World Trade Center, the path train, if you’re familiar. And I was a sports broadcaster with my friend Dan Duva, who’s been on this show a few times. Broadcaster now for the Vegas Golden Knights. And we did. The football games for local cable access. So I happened to be in the athletic department that day getting a roster from the upcoming opponent for the Maroons. It was a Tuesday. I was dropped off at school. I remember it was a little chilly, slight chill in the air, but perfectly clear out. I went to the athletic office during a free period in the morning and the secretary, Maureen Grieco. Who is always very friendly and always very happy, always very welcoming, sort of motioned for me to be quiet and she was hunched over a radio, something was happening. So I got what I needed from her, I went to the. The main office, and I said, you know, something seems to be happening in New York right now over because it’s very close. Ridgewood is not a far distance at all, a commuter town, as I said, to New York City. So then we had because of our cable access. Program at the high school, we had a little TV studio. So I went over there and turned on the news and was watching. And at this point. One of the towers had been hit and was on fire. And I remember sitting there thinking. Well, how does that happen? Because originally the the report was it was a small plane. I said that is a really big gash with a lot of smoke. And how does that happen? It’s a beautiful day out. How does someone someone must have lost control? There’s no way. You know, it’s not like there was fog or someone took a wrong turn right. That that’s that’s not possible. And then I was watching live as the second plane hit the other tower. And it’s funny, my brain played a trick on me. My brain interpreted that sort of as a sports fan, as a replay, like they were playing back. The replay of the first plane hit it, or I thought at the time, the only plane hitting. OK, here, here was the moment of impact. They have video of it already. But then I realized pretty quickly, hang on, that’s the other that’s the other building. And then. It immediately clicks, okay? This is a terrorist attack. That was a big plane. We are. We’re under attack in this country. And I pretty much figured out right away they’re going gonna be a lot of people who die today. A lot of people are gonna die. So I was distraught. I went to the student center where I was just trying to pull my thoughts together as a 16 year old and I was just crying. People saw that a rumor started that my dad had been killed, that was not true. Thank God. My dad was able to at the direction of NYPD, literally Sprint. Up uptown, north, like get out of lower Manhattan. And he was able to reach my mom by phone. She was trying to assure other people in the family that he was OK. For other people in our town, their loved ones were not OK. Our next door neighbor worked in the World Trade Center, she got out. Thank goodness. Carol. But Ridgewood lost 12 people. Including the father of a freshman at my high school, I was a junior, as I mentioned. He was trapped. Above the impact point in his tower. He was able to make phone calls to his family, including pulling this kid out of class. To say goodbye. Imagine being 14. On the football team. And all of a sudden, you’re just in class one morning and you get swept away to the principal’s office, basically because your dad’s on the phone knowing he is about to die. And we’ll speak to you for the last time.”