New Jersey man, others jumped jet's hijackers By Joann Loviglio ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER September 17, 2001 <b>"Are you guys ready? Let's roll!" It's an expression Todd Beamer used whenever his wife and two young sons were leaving their home for a family outing. </b> It was also the expression the 32-year-old businessman and Sunday school teacher used before he and other passengers apparently took action against hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 93, his wife was told by an operator who talked to Beamer just before the plane crashed in a western Pennsylvania field Tuesday. The plane, 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 Lisa Beamer, whose account coincides with other crash victim relatives who received calls from loved ones aboard the plane. "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. Jefferson, 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 attacks - said he and others on the plane were planning to act against the terrorists aboard, Lisa Beamer said. "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 home in Hightstown, N.J. "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, which includes the passage: "(the Lord) leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." Then he asked Jefferson to promise she would call his wife of seven years and their two sons, David, 3, and Andrew, 1. She is expecting their third child in January. After finally receiving clearance from investigators, Jefferson kept her promise Friday. "People asked me if I'm upset that I didn't speak with him, but I'm glad he called (Jefferson) instead," Lisa Beamer said. "I would have been helpless. And I know what his last words would have been to me, anyway. I think that's why he chose the method he did." Beamer said her husband placed the call at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday and told Jefferson that there were three knife- wielding hijackers on board and one had what appeared to be a bomb tied to his chest with a red belt. Two of the hijackers were in the cockpit with the door locked - the pilot and co-pilot were forced out - and the man with the apparent bomb stayed in the rear. "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. Todd Beamer then dropped the phone, leaving the line open. It was then that the operator heard Beamer's words: "Let's roll." They were the last words she heard.
It gives me great joy knowing these guys saved hundreds of American lives and downed the cowardly mission of these sick, pathetic bastards. This link was posted before, but the entire text of it is worth being posted.... http://espn.go.com/columns/wojnarowski/1251966.html <font face="arial" size="3"><B>Glick lost his life, but won his final bout</B></font> <B>By Adrian Wojnarowski</B> <font color="#666666" size="1">Special to ESPN.com</font> Jeremy Glick had gone off to college and lost touch with his sensei, Nagaysu Ogasawara. They had trained judo for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of hours together over the years, a little curly-haired pipsqueak transforming into a 6-foot-2, 220 pound black belt. Years later in 1992, Ogasawara found Glick in the City College of San Francisco gymnasium, without a team, without a coach, and without a doubt in the world he was going to win a national college judo championship for the University of Rochester. "Actually," Ogasawara said over the telephone last week, "he was the team. ... the coach, too." Ogasawara had gone to the national championships nine years ago to coach West Point's Cadets but ended up in the corner of his old student, marveling over Glick winning a title his university never bothered to keep on record. One at a time, each foe dropped to Jeremy Glick. One at time, he beat them. All the way to the end, all the way to last week on United Flight 93, bound Newark to Eternity. This was the solace his wife, Lyzbeth, had on Tuesday morning, talking to her husband on the telephone. Two planes had crashed into the World Trade Center, a third burned into the side of the Pentagon, and now Jeremy, 31, was on Flight 93, a plane terrorists had re-routed for the White House, or the Capitol, or perhaps Air Force One. They talked for 20 minutes, with him telling his wife he had hatched a plan with two passengers -- presumably Thomas Burnett and Mark Bingham -- to charge the terrorists flying the plane and crash the plane out of harm's way on the ground. "Take care of Emmy," Jeremy Glick told Lyz, thinking to the end of his baby daughter, and soon, he told his wife goodbye. She passed the telephone to her father because she couldn't bear to hear the rest. He listened to the muffled screams, the sounds of a struggle, and soon the voices were gone and Flight 93 crashed into the corn fields of rural Pennsylvania. "All I can think is that it's too bad he didn't know how to handle a plane," Ogasawara said. "Because he smashed those people right away. Maybe he had help with others on the plane, but I know he wouldn't have needed it. Three people with knives? It would've been no problem for him." Word started to spread to old friends that there was a Jeremy Glick on the fateful flight, and nobody had to hear it twice to believe it was their Jeremy Glick. He was an all-state wrestler for Saddle River Day School in Northern, N.J., a judo champion. Josh Denbeaux, a lawyer and high school buddy of Jeremy's oldest brother, Jonah, insisted: "Those attackers are pretty f----, sorry, because they ran into the toughest son of a b**** I've ever known ... He wasn't just going to be fighting them, he was going to be the leader of it." For this, Lyz Glick is grateful. In her mind, this was the reason her husband was destined to die on that flight: so others could be saved. Always, they'll remember him as a hero. Always, they'll remember him bursting to the front of the plane, ending his life as he long lived it: Full of fire, fearless and ultimately, for everyone else. "Immediately, I knew he was one of the guys who took them down," said Joe Augineillo, who coached Glick's high school soccer team. "I guarantee it. He was a tough, hard-nosed kid. He was my captain, the protector on my team, and if you gave him a bloody nose, and knocked his teeth out, he'd still be coming after you again. He wasn't the most talented kid on the team, but Lord, you never wanted to be in that kid's way." Sometimes, we wonder the value of sports. What are they teaching kids? What are the lessons learned? Well, there's a judo sensei and high school soccer coach in Northern New Jersey praying something they imparted on Glick benefited him on Flight 93. Nevertheless, Jeremy, Thomas Burnett and Mark Bingham have to be remembered among the greatest champions American sports have ever produced. Who knows where our country would be without him and the heroes of Flight 93? Who knows what would still be standing, who would still be alive? "All I did was cry (Wednesday) morning," Augineillo said, "but the only time I could come close to smiling was imagining sitting next to Jeremy on the plane. I could hear him, saying, 'Aug, let's get these (bleeping) guys.' I'm sure they pounded the (crap) of them." "It's just a shame Jeremy couldn't fly the plane, too." Jeremy told his wife he had his plastic butter knife left from breakfast with him, reaching for a little humor in the darkest moment of his life. Soon, he was gone, pushing for the cockpit, pushing for the terrorists, pushing for the end with Bingham of San Francisco and Burnett of San Ramon, Calif. Those attackers never made it to the White House, the Capitol, Air Force One or wherever it was that they intended to crash on their one-way ticket to Hell. Out of Flight 93, three came Americans and the people remembering the wrestling and judo champion on board understood those terrorist bastards never had a chance: Here rushed Jeremy Glick, the sweetest, surest, toughest SOB they had ever known.
Those guys probably saved either the White House or the Capitol building. Remember those names, because they are true American heroes.
I heard on "Dateline" Last night that there is talk of honoring them, perhaps even with the Congressional Medal of Honor. I think it would be entirely fitting and proper.
These 3 (or maybe more) are truly heros. I was one of the people who probably would have identified someone like Emmitt Smith as a hero before. Someone who played with pain and did his job. My entire perspective has now changed. These 3 are truly heros, as is the firefighters, policemen and others in the rescue efforts going on now. God Blessed America for giving us these great people.
True heros. Saved many lives in DC, perhaps even my own life. I remember fearing how that plane was headed right at me. I'm thankful they had the courage to do what they had to do.
These people are true heroes. I know this would seem patronizing to some, but not only would I give them a medal I would name a wing of the Pentagon, or rename a street or two after them. They're as much a hero as the soldiers, and I guarantee the soldiers are more then proud of them. As for the cowards who did this, I would name a form of toxic waste, or animal waste after them.
"Look on the bright side, at least we'll have junior highs named after us." I don't think that would be enough.
DaD- Makes you wonder if the terrorists crashed in on purpose when the Americans started fighting back or if it crashed during the confrontation itself (during the fight). A pilot I know said if a plane is in the air it is fairly easy to steer (obviously not to land but just to fly around) and it would seem like if they were trying to land there would have been some radio contact. I suspect the Americans never had control of the plane (once the terrorists took it over), although they are heros I suspect the plane was crashed before they were in control. I suppose the terrorists would rahte rdestroy a plane a the passengers than nothing at all.
