Posted on 09/16/2001 1:14:30 PM PDT by jern
By JOANN LOVIGLIO, Associated Press Writer
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - ``Are you guys ready? Let's roll!'' is an expression Todd Beamer used whenever his wife and two young sons were leaving their home for a family outing.
The 32-year-old businessman and Sunday school teacher said the same thing before he and other passengers apparently took action against hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 on Tuesday, shortly before the plane crashed in a western Pennsylvania field.
The jetliner, which government officials suspect was headed for a high-profile target in Washington, was the fourth to crash in a coordinated terrorist attack that killed thousands, and the only one that didn't take lives on the ground.
``He was gentle by nature, he was also very competitive, and he wouldn't stand for anyone being hurt,'' said Beamer's wife, Lisa, who was told of his last words by an operator who spoke to him. ``Knowing that he helped save lives by bringing that plane down ... it brings joy to a situation where there isn't much to be found.''
Todd Beamer placed a call on one of the Boeing 757's on-board telephones and spoke for 13 minutes with GTE operator Lisa D. Robinson, Beamer's wife said. He provided detailed information about the hijacking and - after the operator told him about the morning's World Trade Center and Pentagon (news - web sites) attacks - said he and others on the plane were planning to act against the terrorists aboard.
``They may have realized that (the hijackers) were planing to do the same thing with their plane,'' Beamer said Sunday in a telephone interview from her Hightstown, N.J., home. ``So they chose to do what they could to prevent other people from being hurt.''
Before the call ended and with yelling heard in the background, Todd Beamer asked the operator to pray with him. Together, they recited the 23rd Psalm. Then he asked Robinson to promise she would call his wife of seven years - who is expecting a third child - and their two sons, ages 1 and 3.
After receiving clearance from investigators, Robinson kept her promise Friday.
``People asked me if I'm upset that I didn't speak with him, but I'm glad he called (Robinson) instead,'' Lisa Beamer said. ``I would have been helpless. And I know what his last words would have been to me, anyway.''
Beamer said her husband placed the call at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday and told Robinson that there were three knife-wielding hijackers on board, one who appeared to have a bomb tied to his chest with a belt. The other two hijackers took over the cockpit after forcing the pilot and co-pilot out.
The jet was bobbing and changed course several times; the passengers knew they would never land in San Francisco.
``They realized they were going to die. Todd said he and some other passengers were going to jump on the guy with the bomb,'' Lisa Beamer said.
Several other passengers made phone calls from the jet before it crashed southeast of Pittsburgh: Jeremy Glick, 31; Mark Bingham, 31; and Thomas Burnett Jr. 38. Glick and Burnett said they were going to do something.
Todd Beamer dropped the phone after talking to Robinson, leaving the line open. It was then that the operator heard Beamer's words: ``Let's roll.''
Then silence.
Shortly afterwards, the plane crashed, killing all 45 aboard.
``Some people live their whole lives, long lives, without having left anything behind,'' Lisa Beamer said. ``My sons will be told their whole lives that their father was a hero, that he saved lives. It's a great legacy for a father to leave his children.''
I thought that was the official name of the Homeland Defense portion of the War.
Bump for Osama's head in a jar on the Oval Office desk for Bush's next fireside chat.
Bump for not giving flight attendants keys to the cockpit.
Bump for rolling up this terrorist network one sleeper strapped to a DieHard at a time.
LOL
Operation Screaming Eagle - I like that name, the last sound Bin Ladin and a lot of other terrorists will ever hear.
Just don't put it next to the candy jar.
Hope that we can live up to the standard you, and your fellow passengers established.
This deserves a great big bump.
As a former sailor and the brother of an active duty sailor, I say that I would have been proud to ride the waves on ships named after men like this.
Knitebane
LET'S ROLL!
I can easily see how that line entry for the last call could become a family heirloom, treasured for generations.
That said, it would be in poor taste for the fee to not be waived.
This is excellent news, if I am understanding it rightly, on more than one front. First, it rules out lawsuits for wrongful death for the surviving family members. Second, it provides a pattern for any passengers in future situations. Third, their votes make every passenger on that flight eligible for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in my opinion.
Sure it would. If they failed at gaining control of the aircraft, of if the passengers were able to stage a counterattack, at least SOMETHING would be salvaged from it--a dead plane and dead passengers.
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