Twenty years ago, 232 people boarded their morning flights. Thirty-three airline crew members prepared their aircraft for takeoff. Two thousand six hundred and six people had just begun their workday. Three hundred and forty-three firefighters, 60 police officers, and eight paramedics thought it was going to be a normal day of work. None of them saw past 10 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001. Nineteen radical Islamic terrorists from al Qaeda hijacked and crashed four airplanes. At a time when Nike is preaching about sacrificing everything, the victims of the worst terrorist attack in American history actually did.
At the time, we promised we would “never forget.” Almost a generation has passed since that terrible day, and it is legitimately questionable whether that promise was kept.
On Sept. 11, 2001, the world changed forever. The United States of America was attacked on its own soil for the first time since World War II. Americans watched radical Islamic jihadists crash airplanes into the World Trade Center and murder nearly 3,000 people. People watched in horror as planes crashed, explosions occurred, and people stuck in a burning skyscraper jumped to their deaths. People watched as an airplane plowed into the Pentagon. Fear engulfed the country. No one knew what was happening or where the next attack was going to occur.
“Let’s roll.”
Todd Beamer. Remember him? During the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93, when it became evident that terrorists had taken over the plane, passenger Todd Beamer and others decided to act. Faced with the terrifying prospect of imminent death, Beamer, along with passengers Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett, and Jeremy Glick, devised a plan to fight back. They were courageously joined by William Cashman, Alan Beaven, Lou Nacke, Rich Guadagno, Honor Elizabeth Wainio, and Linda Gronlund, along with flight attendants CeeCee Ross-Lyles and Sandra Bradshaw.
The plan devised was one of ultimate sacrifice. These heroes decided that they would storm the cockpit, jump on the terrorists, and fly the plane into the ground before the terrorists’ plan could be completed. All the while, Beamer was on the phone with GTE airphone supervisor Lisa Jefferson. Before Beamer launched his counteroffensive, he recited the Lord’s Prayer and the 23rd Psalm with Jefferson. He then told Jefferson, “If I don’t make it, please call my family and let them know how much I love them.” After this, Beamer turned to his fellow passengers and said, “Let’s roll.” The plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, shortly thereafter.
Based on the findings from the 9/11 Commission Report, the plane’s voice data recorder detailed the final moments:
The phrase “Let’s roll” became martyred that day.
Todd Beamer was just one of many heroes that day. Firefighters, paramedics, and police officers sacrificed everything. The nameless heroes whom we forgot way too soon, whom textbooks fail to mention. Three hundred and forty-three firefighters, 71 police officers, and 55 military personnel died on Sept. 11, 2001. Additionally, it has been reported that over 1,400 first responders who responded that day have since died. And yet, 20 years later, Americans have largely failed to uphold the promise to “never forget” made to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
