Remembering 9/11 Victims From Brick 20 Years Later

BRICK, NJ — Anyone older than 25 in Brick likely remembers where they were on 9/11.

Americans felt a collective trauma as first one and then another plane flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. As the truth dawned on people watching from their TVs that America was under attack, another plane took aim at the Pentagon. A fourth was brought down in a field in Pennsylvania in a final act of heroism by passengers who realized their flight had been hijacked.

Nearly 3,000 people, including eight who have ties to Brick Township, were killed in the suicide attacks carried out by 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaida.

On the 20th anniversary of the attacks, Brick remembers and mourns the following, who all died t the World Trade Center:

• John Badagliacca
• Brett T. Bailey
• Robert P. Devitt Jr.
• Michael David Diehl
• Jon Anthony Perconti
• James Sands Jr.
• Thomas Sgroi
• Christopher Traina

Brick Township, at its annual 9/11 service, also has honored Ruben Correa and Martha Jane Stevens since 2017. Correa, 44, was a firefighter with Ladder 74 who lived in Staten Island; his family now lives in Brick. Stevens, 55, who worked for AON Corporation, spent her summers in Brick.

Badagliacca, 35, was a bond salesman for Cantor Fitzgerald, according to the 9/11 Living Memorial website. He had two children with his wife, Nancy, whom he met when they were kids, and they owned a summer home in Brick. They were soul mates, she said in his obituary on NJ.com. He loved boating and sports, and was an all-around handyman. "You were the person that everyone wanted to be with. Your humor, your intellect, your craftsmanship was a gift to anyone who came near you. I am grateful that we had so many years together," she wrote on the Cantor Fitzgerald families website.

Bailey, 28, was called "the broker in a wetsuit" in his obituary. He worked for EuroBrokers, but still loved to spend time on and in the water, surfing, swimming and fishing, his family said. He also was quick to help others. Co-workers told his family that Bailey had reached the 71st floor of Tower Two and was helping others when the second tower collapsed. "That's the type of kid he was. He was always taking care of everybody," his mother said. His family created the Brett T. Bailey Foundation, which supports a variety of causes, and the BTB Mako Rodeo, in honor of his love of shark fishing.

Devitt, 36, was a director of purchasing at Cantor Fitzgerald. He was a 1983 graduate of Brick Township High School and lived in Plainsboro at the time of the attacks. He was adventurous and known as the life of the party, playing rugby and doing crazy stunts to keep people entertained, according to Legacy.com At Kutztown University he was a rugby player, and had been skydiving, motorcycling and kayaking. He loved to play golf and cook for his friends, and loved his job. "There was nowhere else he would rather be," his fiancee said.

Diehl, 48, was a vice president with Fiduciary Trust International. He and his wife, Loisanne, were married for six days short of 24 years and their home in Brick was their dream home. He was the grillmaster, according to Legacy.com. "He would park himself in a lawn chair in front of the barbecue with a glass of wine, preparing mouth-watering foods for his family and friends," she said in 2001. "Even in the winter he would don a parka, shovel a path to the grill and sit there like he was on top of the world." On the 9/11 Living Memorial, Lois wrote that Diehl worked in the Trade Center in 1993 when the bomb went off in the garage, and he and three co-workers carried a pregnant woman down 95 stories to safety. "It is rumored that these same four men were last seen on the 44th floor putting people onto elevators to get them out when the Towers came crumbling down on 9/11," she wrote. "I don't know if that is true, but it is what I would like to believe, since we will never know until we meet our Maker."

Perconti, 32, was an equities trader at Cantor Fitzgerald. He and his wife, Tammy, had been married for just over a year and were expecting their first child. Julia was born in December, according to Perconti's cousin Sherri Ciarocco, who said he had been overjoyed at becoming a father. He grew up learning how to cook from his grandmother, and as an adult loved to cook for family and friends, and was known for barbecuing on his big green oval grill he called "the Egg" in the back yard or tailgating at New York Giants or Yankees games. "Jon was the type of person who knew what it meant to live life to the fullest. Never taking anything for granted, always being generous and welcoming everyone into his home," she wrote.

Sands, 38, was a software engineer in strategic development in the eSpeed Division at Cantor Fitzgerald. His passion, however, was scuba diving, and he and his wife, Jennifer, spent hours diving off the coast of Grand Cayman, and he captured a multitude of moments underwater. "He was an advanced level diver who never missed an opportunity to explore Caribbean marine life and capture its beauty on film," his wife wrote. He was always joyful, always had a smile on his face and cherished the time spent with family, she said. He had land-based pursuits — golfing, biking, music, restaurants, Broadway shows, and the New York Giants — but the water was his favorite place, she said.

Sgroi, 45, worked for Marsh & McLennan, a consulting firm. He had moved to Staten Island from Brick after his divorce, his son told Patch in 2011. "He loved his job," Mike Sgroi said. "For me, and him, it was exciting." But he remained close to his sons, and his former wife, Laraine, who told the New York Times that he loved to take photos, do home improvements and was the life of the party and loved to throw parties. He cherished loyalty and stuck by his family and friends. "Everyone in the family counted on him," she said. "He was the rock."

Traina, 25, was a break clerk at Carr Futures. He had decided to pursue commodities after spending a summer working for another company in New York City, and was working toward his goal of becoming a broker, according to the biography written by Meagan Drapkin. He was close to his family and friends, and spent summer vacation to Cancun, Mexico, just weeks before Sept. 11. Traina loved fishing and boating and just being on the water. He was a huge sports fan and followed the New York Yankees, the Raiders in the NFL, the New Jersey Devils and the Atlanta Hawks. He "found ease and comfort in listening to music," and his favorite bands were Metallica, Soundgarden, and Queensryche, she wrote.

All 9/11 victims will be remembered at memorial services planned across the nation on Sept. 11 to mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks.

Locally, Ocean County officials have their Day of Remembrance ceremony set for Friday morning. 9/11 Day Of Remembrance Ceremony Set At Ocean County Offices

Brick Township will hold its Sept. 11 service on Saturday evening: Brick Set To Mark 20th Anniversary Of 9/11 Terror Attacks

At the 9/11 memorial in Lower Manhattan, New York — an area still known as “Ground Zero” — the names of the fallen will be read aloud.

“Throughout the ceremony, we will observe six moments of silence, acknowledging when each of the World Trade Center towers was struck and fell and the times corresponding to the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93,” the 9/11 Memorial & Museum wrote on its website.

The annual “Tribute of Light,” which is lights pointed to the sky in the shape of the Twin Towers, will go on that night.

Most 9/11 victims were from either New York or New Jersey, where many who lived across the Hudson River from the World Trade Center recall the horror of watching the twin towers collapse from their homes in Hoboken and Jersey City.

More than 2,700 people died at the World Trade Center alone on 9/11, including the passengers of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175. Another 184 were killed when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and 44 died on United Airlines Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

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