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by Robb Fulcher


   As the United States reeled from the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, local residents nervously awaited word from loved ones back east, and recounted close calls and selfless actions from former beach cities people who found themselves in the sudden rubble and ruin of Manhattan.
They told their tales as the nation struggled under the weight of the Tuesday morning attacks that left countless dead, changed forever the New York skyline and forced the evacuation of the White House.


   Relief at home

Kathy Hilberg, a care manager at the Redondo-based Beach Cities Health District, awoke Tuesday to hear the news from New York and Washington, and began to worry about her son Coby Bell, an actor who plays Ty Davis Jr. on the NBC crime series "Third Watch.

"Bell, 26, lives in New York with his wife Aviss Pinkney-Bell, and works in the streets of New York, where the series is shot.

"You’re just holding your breath," his mother said.
She was among the lucky ones, she got word within about an hour of the tragedy that her son and daughter-in-law were safe.

"Things happened so quickly for us that we didn’t have to suffer a huge buildup of anxiety," Hilberg said