{"id":1195,"date":"2013-03-19T05:33:52","date_gmt":"2013-03-19T09:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/?p=1195"},"modified":"2019-09-11T07:54:15","modified_gmt":"2019-09-11T11:54:15","slug":"heroes-of-911-the-passengers-and-crew-of-united-93","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/2013\/03\/19\/heroes-of-911-the-passengers-and-crew-of-united-93\/","title":{"rendered":"Heroes of 9\/11: The Passengers and Crew of United 93"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Scott T. Allison and George R. Goethals<\/strong><\/p>\n

As we pass the anniversary of the September 11th attacks, Americans continue to experience a range of strong emotions.\u00a0 There remains deep sadness about the losses suffered that day.\u00a0 Many of us are still trying to come to terms with the toxic mix of political, theological and economic conditions that fed the terrorists’ hatred.\u00a0 And there continue to be reaffirmations of the goodness, resilience, and courage of America and its citizens.<\/p>\n

One of the ways we have coped with the tragedy is to remember the heroes who stepped forward that day.\u00a0 Many paid the ultimate price to combat the terror and help us get back on our feet.\u00a0 In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “they gave the last full measure of devotion.” There were numerous such heroes in New York and Washington, DC.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>But few made as much difference as the passengers on United 93.\u00a0 Their story will be remembered for as long as this nation survives.<\/p>\n

United Airlines Flight 93 was bound from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco that brilliant Tuesday morning.\u00a0 It was delayed for about 45 minutes due to air traffic congestion, finally taking off at 8:42 AM.\u00a0 Four hijackers began their takeover at 9:28 AM.\u00a0 By that time the two flights from Boston had crashed into the World Trade Center.\u00a0 The Pentagon would be hit in a few minutes.<\/p>\n

During the hijacking itself, the four men apparently killed the pilot and co-pilot, and herded the passengers into the back of the aircraft.\u00a0 Luckily, some passengers and flight attendants were able to use cell phones or airphones to call family members or contact GTE operators.\u00a0 Slowly, what had happened at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon came into focus.<\/p>\n

Many passengers’ relatives tried to console their loved ones, and saying that everything would be okay.\u00a0 Intense fear very frequently leads to denial.\u00a0 Initially both those in the air and those on the ground had difficulty coming to terms with the fact that the plane was on a suicide mission.\u00a0 Once that was clear \u2013 and it became clear to those on the plane before those on the ground \u2013 the passengers reacted quickly.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>It’s a good thing.\u00a0 When the plane crashed, it was only twenty minutes from Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

We don’t know who organized the counterattack.\u00a0 It began at 9:57 AM.\u00a0 The passengers voted to break into the cockpit to try to retake control of the plane.\u00a0 Flight attendants helped.\u00a0 One called her husband and told him that they were preparing boiling water to throw at the hijackers.\u00a0 And we don’t know exactly how the passengers overwhelmed the hijackers and breached the cabin.<\/p>\n

But the last words of one man are iconic.\u00a0 They were overheard by the GTE operator he had reached by airphone:\u00a0 “Are you guys ready? \u00a0Okay.\u00a0 Let’s roll.”\u00a0 It sounds like a line from a movie, but it happened to real people acting under the most terrifying circumstances imaginable.\u00a0 They knew they were going to die.\u00a0 But they wanted to prevent more death and destruction in the nation’s capital.<\/p>\n

Most experts believe that United 93’s target was the Capitol building itself, though it may have been the White House or Camp David.\u00a0 The hijackers’ mission failed due to acts of heroism that are as unalloyed as they come.\u00a0 The nation will be forever grateful to the heroes of United 93.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

Do you have any heroes you would like us to profile?\u00a0 If so, please contact Scott Allison as sallison@richmond.edu.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Scott T. Allison and George R. Goethals As we pass the anniversary of the September 11th attacks, Americans continue to experience a range of strong emotions.\u00a0 There remains deep sadness about the losses suffered that day.\u00a0 Many of us are still trying to come to terms with the toxic mix of political, theological and … Continue reading Heroes of 9\/11: The Passengers and Crew of United 93<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1168,1157],"tags":[27491],"class_list":["post-1195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-unsung-heroes","category-war-heroes","tag-united-93-heroes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phawtM-jh","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}