Chip Minemyer: ‘Up to us’ to be worthy of the heroes of Flight 93

Many speakers at Sept. 11 anniversary events at the Flight 93 National Memorial over the years have urged those gathered to live in a manner worthy of the sacrifices made there.

On the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Gordon Felt, brother of Flight 93 passenger Edward Felt, said: “The path we follow from here is up to us. Let’s strive to be worthy of those we lost that morning.”

How are we measuring up to that calling?

Or to the valor displayed by soldiers crashing the beaches at Normandy, Marines battling to take Iwo Jima, the fallen and victorious at Gettysburg, or heroes from any other such moment in our history?

We often are too focused on our superficial differences to embrace the larger ideals that should bring us together.

The passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 were a diverse collection of individuals of various ages, races and sexual orientations who confronted an unspeakable horror after terrorists took over their plane bound from Newark, N.J., for San Francisco and turned south across Pennsylvania toward Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001.

Faced with the understanding that hijacked airliners had already been flown into the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, and the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., they joined together and fought back.

In so doing, they gave their own lives but saved countless others on the ground — and lessened the impact 9/11 could have had on our nation if Flight 93 had reached the terrorists’ intended target, likely the U.S. Capitol Building or the White House.

On that plane, no one paused to say: “Before we do this, are you a Republican or a Democrat?” No one stopped and declared: “I can’t charge the cockpit with him. He’s Asian!”

Or: “I can’t stand side by side with her. She’s too young.”

Or: “He’s gay.”

Or: “She’s Black.”

Or: “He’s old.”

But here’s what they did:

• They found the strength and presence of mind to reach out to the authorities to make sure someone knew their plane had been hijacked.

Edward Felt dialed 9-1-1, National Park Service archives tell us, and identified himself and the flight he was on. He shouted: “Hijacking in progress!”

Todd Beamer attempted to reach his wife on the plane’s Airfone. When he didn’t reach her, he dialed “zero” and was connected with an Airfone customer service representative. That person recounted later that Beamer “calmly provided critical information about events on the plane and relayed messages for his pregnant wife and two children,” National Park Service archives show.

He then joined with that customer service rep — whom he would never meet — and recited the Lord’s Prayer before turning to other passengers, while the call was still in progress, and uttered that now-famous phrase:

“Are you ready? OK. Let’s roll.”

• They called family members to tell them one last time they loved them, some leaving powerful messages on answering machines — even instructions for how their affairs might be handled if they didn’t survive.

Linda Gronlund, traveling with boyfriend Joseph DeLuca, “called her sister to express her love, give her the combination to her safe and say goodbye,” per NPS information shared by the Associated Press.

DeLuca called his father to say goodbye, while passenger Jeremy Glick contacted his wife to tell her he loved her and to let her know a plan was being developed to confront the hijackers.

Flight attendant Sandy Waugh Bradshaw phoned United Airlines, her employer, to make sure they knew the plane had been hijacked by terrorists. She then called her husband and reported that “others on the plane were boiling water to throw on the hijackers.” As the call was ending, she said that “everyone was running up to first class.”

Lauren Grandcolas, who was three months pregnant, left a message for her husband “saying there was a problem on the flight. She conveyed her love for him and asked him to tell her family that she loved them, too.”

• They rushed the cockpit, either disrupting the terrorist who was piloting the plane or causing the terrorists to bring United 93 down into a former strip mine.

The youngest of the passengers, Honor Elizabeth Wainio, had called her stepmother, who said Honor told her: “They’re getting ready to break into the cockpit. I have to go. I love you. Goodbye.”

Flight attendant CeeCee Ross Lyles left an answering machine message for her husband that you can hear when you visit the Flight 93 National Memorial: “I want to tell you I love you. Please tell my children I love them very much.”

Husband Lorne called back and connected with CeeCee, who told him: “We’re getting ready to do it now. It’s happening!”

Passenger Thomas Burnett Jr. made four calls to his wife, who helped the passengers and crew understand what was happening at the Pentagon and in New York City. Burnett told his wife those on board Flight 93 were preparing to “take back the plane.”

He told her: “We have to do something. We can’t wait for the authorities. … It’s up to us. I think we can do it.”

United Flight 93 crashed down near Shanksville, killing those 40 amazing passengers and crew members — 20 minutes away from the Capitol.

Was that so long ago that we have forgotten their courage and sacrifice?

Are we worthy?

The answer will show in how we live, how we treat one another and how we govern.

As Burnett so bravely stated in his final minutes: It’s up to us.

Chip Minemyer is publisher of the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat.