Bayonne City Hall Display Recalls September 11 and the Ground Zero Recovery Operations

Mayor Sharon Nadrowski has announced that Jim Mock, a retired union carpenter, has provided materials from recovery operations at the World Trade Center for a display in the Bayonne City Hall lobby. He has also assembled numerous artifacts and informative captions concerning September 11.

Following the terrorist attack on the original World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Mock spent eighteen months working on recovery operations in Lower Manhattan with numerous other building trades workers.  Mock is a member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.  Most of the time on site, he worked underground.  Mock recalled that recovery workers made a special effort to salvage any objects that might bear the DNA of the victims. He recalled that the workers dammed up the water that had come through the train tunnels at the World Trade Center. They also bored through the ground to create a new tunnel, he said. The Port Authority brought in mineworkers from Austria who were among Mr. Mock’s underground co-workers.

In speaking to young students,  Mock has noticed that they take a special interest when he mentions that dogs were involved in the rescue and recovery operations. He estimates that a total of 300 dogs took part in post-September 11 activities at all three locations of the terrorist attacks: the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  

Mock’s artifacts include steel from September 11 and a flag that flew from Ground Zero. The items in the display include orange work vests, hard hats, September 11 badges, pins, art, books, and a cloth from the Carpenters and Joiners union (Hudson County Carpenters 6). The collection includes patches from police, fire, emergency medical services, and K-9 units.  

This year, Mock has added material on the heroic work of firefighters on September 11, 2001. Seventy-five firehouses lost members on that day. The display case features captions about the 343 firefighters who perished on September 11. Other captions note the hundreds of emergency vehicles that were lost or damaged following the attacks. 

Mock lost friends from Bayonne who perished on September 11, 2001. He believes it is important to remember what happened on September 11. The retired carpenter said it in two words, “Never forget.”  Mock stressed the importance of teaching young students about what happened in 2001, which was before they were born.

Mayor Nadrowski said, “I would like to thank Jim Mock for the special care that he takes each year to prepare this important display about September 11. It helps to educate younger people about what happened twenty-five years ago. By having added new items this year, Jim Mock is also bringing new facts to light for those of us who were around in 2001.” 

The objects will remain on display through the end of September 2026..