ESPN columnist Rick Reilly writes about the heroes of United Flight 93, which went down on September 11, 2001 near Shanksville, Pa., as the doomed passengers took control of the jetliner from the jihadists and forced it down. Flight 93′s likely target was in Washington, D.C., either the U.S. Capitol or the White House.
The first battle in the renewed war against terrorism wasn’t waged in Fallujah or Kandahar or Tikrit. It was held 32,000 feet above Pittsburgh, on Sept. 11, 2001.
And it wasn’t soldiers who led the battle.
It was four athletes, pushing a food cart.
One of the heroes of Flight 93 was Todd Beamer, of the iconic “Let’s roll.” Reilly talked to Beamer’s father, David:
“This was the first victory of the war,” says David Beamer. “The Capitol dome still stands.”
We wrote about the Heroes of Flight 93 here.
From the Darryl Worley song Have You Forgotten:
Have you forgotten
All the people killed
Yes some went down like heroes
In that Pennsylvania field
Here’s the ending to the Paul Greengrass film United 93, which told the story of these real American heroes. God bless all of them and the families.
Here’s the ending of the made-for-TV film Flight 93:
THe movie on it was fantastic