TRENTON, N.J. – To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, the Assembly waived on and then unanimously passed Assemblyman Alex Sauickie’s resolution honoring the victims, remembering the courageous citizens and first responders, and celebrating the enduring American spirit on Thursday.

Sauickie, a witness to the tragic events in New York City, recalled, “That sunny day would become gray and black as the two towers fell, one after the other. There was obvious horror, but a tremendous amount of heroism.”

The lawmaker was one of the approximately 500,000 people rescued from Manhattan by boat in what would become known as “Operation Boat Lift,” the largest maritime evacuation in world history. The United States Coast Guard, alongside countless civilian mariners, ferry operators, tugboat crews, and private citizens, organized and executed the rescue mission in less than nine hours.

In addition to the terror and heroic acts, he said he also witnessed unity.

“It didn’t matter which party we were in, didn’t matter which race we were, we were helping each other, we were patriotic,” Sauickie added.  “In memory of those lost and the unity I hope we gain back; I move the resolution.”

The resolution AR158 commemorates the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Twenty-five years ago, the al-Qaeda terrorist group killed nearly 3,000 people, including 750 New Jerseyans, within a matter of 90 minutes of hijacking four commercial airplanes. Two crashed into the World Trade Center’s twin towers and one into the Pentagon. The fourth plane, Flight 93, never made it to its destination because passengers and crew members heroically overtook the hijackers and crashed it into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.