Fellow humans,
Today is such a sad day. Thousands of people were killed during the four plane crashes on September 11, 2001. Thousands more were killed during the following twenty years of war. God bless the dead, and hopefully their souls are spending eternity in heaven.
Although today is sad, I don’t want to dwell on sadness. Rather, I’d like to focus on a very specific part of 9/11 which is rarely discussed. Each day I read a short email from HISTORY. The following excerpt is from today's email.
“Meanwhile, a fourth California-bound plane–United Flight 93–was hijacked about 40 minutes after leaving Newark International Airport in New Jersey. Because the plane had been delayed in taking off, passengers on board learned of events in New York and Washington via cell phone and Airfone calls to the ground. Knowing that the aircraft was not returning to an airport as the hijackers claimed, a group of passengers and flight attendants planned an insurrection. One of the passengers, Thomas Burnett, Jr., told his wife over the phone that “I know we’re all going to die. There’s three of us who are going to do something about it. I love you, honey.” Another passenger—Todd Beamer—was heard saying “Are you guys ready? Let’s roll” over an open line. Sandy Bradshaw, a flight attendant, called her husband and explained that she had slipped into a galley and was filling pitchers with boiling water. Her last words to him were “Everyone’s running to first class. I’ve got to go. Bye.”
The passengers fought the four hijackers and are suspected to have attacked the cockpit with a fire extinguisher. The plane then flipped over and sped toward the ground at upwards of 500 miles per hour, crashing in a rural field in western Pennsylvania at 10:10 a.m. All 45 people aboard were killed. Its intended target is not known, but theories include the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, or one of several nuclear power plants along the eastern seaboard.”
Terrorists have one main objective — invoke fear and violence. Who knows where Flight 93 was headed, but I bet the hijackers were not planning to crash in a field in Pennsylvania. None of the above theories about where the plane was headed would surprise me. Who knows how many lives were saved because of those courageous passengers.
Anyway, just wanted to point out a silver lining today. If any Veterans want to talk about 9/11 or the situation in Afghanistan, feel free to reach out. I’m headed to the Arlington National Cemetery.
Until next time,
Salvatore Norge