PALMER TWP, Pa. - Patrick Cartier of Palmer Township said two decades later, he still feels the trauma of 9/11.
“I look at it like it’s a part of me,” said Cartier.
Originally from Jackson Heights, N.Y., Cartier says two of his siblings made it out thanks to a phone call from his brother who perished that day, 26-year-old James “Jimmy” Cartier.
“My brother heard the tower rock, and he immediately called my brother John [and said], ‘Don’t come here, just go get Michelle,’” Cartier said. “When my brother got my sister out, Jimmy’s tower went down.”
Jimmy was an electrician who had been working at the site for two weeks when the attacks happened.
“People loved him, he would do anything for anyone,” Cartier said. “He was full of life. To think about his life now after 20 years, what his life would have been and what my family's life would have been is a void that we could never, and will never, be able to fill.”
Cartier has five children of his own, and one of his sons is named after his brother Jimmy.
“And he’s just like him, respectful and caring,” Cartier said.
Cartier plans to visit his brother's grave this weekend. He says he finds some solace knowing that remembrance ceremonies will be held across the nation.
“Even though my brother is gone, I’m so blessed to know that so many people are going to take the time to remember him,” Cartier said. “My brother, somehow, is intertwined with everyone's memory of Sept. 11.”
