Visit to Ground Zero

Posted by Jenette Nelson on December 08, 2001 at 15:33:15:

Today I Met a Hero
Written by Jenette Nelson, Mother of Ann Nicole Nelson
Stanley, ND

Today I met a hero-
He was brave and he was strong.
He walked among the rubble
Of the tower’s terrible wrong.

His eyes were filled with anguish-
His eyes were filled with pain.
He smoldered with an anger
He barely could contain.

He had been sorting through the rubble-
to find his fallen friend.
He had been sorting through the rubble-
for hours without end.

He saw me standing-weeping
He felt my crippling pain
He saw me standing-weeping-
as I looked at terror’s reign.

He saw me standing-weeping-
he looked deeply in my eyes.
He asked if I had lost someone-
but I could only cry.

I nodded confirmation-
the tears-they would not stop.
I could not tell him of my child-
who had been working at the top.

Who had been working at her papers-
among her tools of trade.
Who was the sweetest angel
that God had ever made.

He did not need my words of anguish-
He did not need my words at all.
He heard my heart there breaking.
And he answered to its call.

He said-”Stand your ground-
wait here, until I’m back.”
Someone there beside me
handed him a sack.


2.

He strode across the rubble-
He disappeared from sight.
I stood there dying-weeping-
as he carried on his fight.

I stood there dying-weeping-
as I looked upon her grave.
I stood there dying-weeping-
as her ashes he bent to save.


He picked a beam of steel-
he made of it a cross.
He gently placed it in my hands-
as he comforted my loss.

I pinned her picture on his coat.
I clasped him to my breast.
I told him that her name was Ann.
She was our very best.

I wanted somehow to thank him.
But I knew he read my heart.
Just as I knew he was hero-
from the very start.


This was written by Jenette Nelson of Stanley, North Dakota after she visited Ground Zero on Friday, November 9, 2001. Her daughter, Ann Nicole Nelson, raised in North Dakota, worked as a bond broker for Cantor-Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of the North Tower of the WTC. She has been missing since 9/11/2001. Mrs. Nelson and her husband, Gary, were accompanied by Eric Lockovitch, Ann’s boyfriend of three years, and Suki Larson, her very dear friend, on the tour which was arranged by Congressman Earl Pomeroy, Washington, D.C., and Uniform Fire Fighters, New York City, N.Y. #854. The contact firemen were Stephen Carbone and Dennis Cummins.

The events described above are true and the Nelsons wish to convey a copy of this written impression of the Hero but they do not know his name. Mrs. Nelson remembers him as being above average in height, brown eyes, and good looking. He wore a number forty on the back of his coveralls. If you can help, it would be deeply appreciated.

Enclosed is a picture.

Mr. & Mrs. Gary Nelson
Box 146
Stanley, ND 58784