“Where were you when the world stopped turning, that September day...” - Alan Jackson
Twenty-five years after 9/11, those of us who were alive that terrible day remember the images of explosions, confusion and grieving — survivors and rescuers covered in toxic dust as an American flag was raised over the smoking rubble.
We will never forget those images.
But what seems most vivid to me now, a quarter-century later, are the faces and stories of the people that day who showed us the meaning of resolve, bravery and clear-minded purpose — our highest ideals as Americans and humans.
For example, I have read and re-read the story of Rick Rescorla, the security chief at Morgan Stanley, a financial services firm with thousands of employees on 22 floors of the South Tower. Born in Cornwall, he was in New York after a remarkable life as a soldier of fortune. In fact, a photo of him taken in Vietnam was on the cover of the book that became the Mel Gibson film “We Were Soldiers.”
After the Twin Towers were targeted in a deadly 1993 bombing, he knew this landmark would remain a terrorist target. He unsuccessfully pushed his employer to move out of the World Trade Center to a safer, if less glamorous, headquarters. Failing that, he forced employees to practice evacuation plans, despite their complaints and exasperation.
When the first plane hit on 9/11, he disobeyed general Port Authority protocols calling for workers to stay at their desks in the Twin Towers. Instead, bullhorn in hand, he led his employees out, singing “God Bless America” and Cornish folks songs from his youth, just as he had decades before to rally the courage of his fellow soldiers on the battlefield.
His foresight, leadership and courage meant that nearly 2,700 Morgan Stanley employees survived that day — but he was not one of them. He was last seen heading back up the stairway to double-check and make sure that he left no one behind. He called his wife and told her “I have to get these people out safely. If something should happen to me, I want you to know I’ve never been happier.”
I think also of 1st Lt. Heather “Lucky” Penney, a fighter pilot with the D.C. Air National Guard who was scrambled that morning in an F-16 to defend the capital.
Those were simpler times: none of the fighter jets on American soil were armed with missiles that morning. Why would they be?
She and her wingman, then-Lieutenant Colonel Marc Sasseville, took to the skies with an unimaginable mission. They would have to destroy a civilian aircraft loaded with Americans — and they would have to use their own planes as missiles to do it. Her wingman said he would ram his jet through the cockpit to disable the hijackers. She said she’d take out the tail to knock the plane out of the sky. There would be no pilot ejection at the last minute. To ensure success of their mission, they would stay at the controls to the very end.
They were willing to sacrifice themselves to prevent disaster.
Fortunately for them, the passengers on that plane did the job themselves first.
That brings us to people like Todd Beamer and Jeremy Glick, who were on United Airlines Flight 93. At that time hijackings were usually done for ransom or some other demand. The idea of suicidal jihadi hijackers crashing a plane they had stolen was outside of most people‘s imagination. But as first one plane and then another hit the Twin Towers, and then the third plane hit the Pentagon, our nation realized what was happening.
Word filtered back through onboard phones to a few of the people on the plane.
These passengers, showing the American spirit of democracy at its most fundamental level, conferred amongst themselves, took a vote, and decided to take the risk of rushing the cockpit. They knew they almost certainly would not survive the attempt. But they also knew it was their only chance to save themselves, or at least to save others.
It’s hard to be both optimistic and realistic, especially when facing death, but these American heroes did just that.
The passengers attacked the cockpit to wrestle control from the hijackers, who crashed the plane rather than be overtaken. All aboard died instantly.
The heroism of these passengers saved countless Americans and the intended target of that plane, probably the U.S. Capitol or the White House.
Todd Beamer‘s final words became a rallying cry for the nation 25 years ago and I hope they always will be.
Facing impossible odds and the highest stakes imaginable, the passengers overcame fear, uncertainty and passivity. They came together and got the job done.
In the same way, 25 years ago, America came together in unity after 9/11, at least for a time.
A generation later, the challenges before us seem impossible and the stakes are high. The courage of those 9/11 heroes can be our inspiration. Like them, we can step forward in resolve and unity, working together and doing what we can.
As he prepared to fight back in his final moments, Todd Beamer recited the Lord’s Prayer and the 23rd Psalm, then said to his fellow passengers these words, a simple phrase of pluck and resolve that ring loudly 25 years later and will be remembered through the ages:
“Let’s roll.”
Brian Mittge is a community enthusiast who has written for The Chronicle since 2000 as a reporter, editor and columnist. He can be reached at brianmittge@hotmail.com.
