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The quiet executive who defied hijackers
By Toby Harnden in Washington (Filed: 18/09/2001) ET AMERICA discovered another posthumous hero yesterday when
a computer executive emerged as a leader of the passengers who tackled hijackers
at the controls of Flight 93. The last recorded words of Todd Beamer were: "Are you
guys ready? Let's roll." Minutes later the Boeing 757, which officials
think was heading for the Capitol in Washington, crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania,
with the loss of all 44 on board. Mr Beamer, 32, who worked for Oracle Corporation in New
Jersey, had telephoned a GTE Airfone operator and told her one passenger had
been stabbed to death and the two pilots injured. One hijacker appeared to
have a bomb strapped to his waist. The operator, Lisa Jefferson, took the call at 9.45am. By
this time Mr Beamer and others on board knew from other mobile phone calls that two planes had crashed
into the World Trade Centre. Some passengers were being guarded in the first class
section, but most, including Mr Beamer, had been herded into the rear. He
told Miss Jefferson that a group of men planned to "jump" the
hijackers. "We're going to do something," he said. "I
know I'm not going to get out of this." Together, he and Miss Jefferson
recited the Lord's Prayer and the 23rd Psalm: "The Lord is my shepherd . . . Though I walk in the
vale of death's shadow, I fear not, with You at my side." After Mr Beamer said "Let's roll", Miss
Jefferson heard screams and an intense scuffle before the line went dead. It
was just before 10am and moments later Flight 93 plunged into a corn field. Unlike other passengers, Mr Beamer did not call a loved
one to say goodbye. Instead, he made Miss Jefferson promise to telephone his
pregnant wife, Lisa and their sons David, three, and Andrew, one. "Tell
her I love her and the boys." Mrs Beamer said: "When the plane started to fly erratically,
he said he knew he wouldn't make it out of there." Her husband's heroism
had "made my life worth living again". Vice-President Dick Cheney said he believed the terrorists
were intending to crash Flight 93 into the Capitol, while the primary target
of Flight 77, which devastated part of the Pentagon, was the White House. James Smith, a Capitol Hill staffer who studied with Mr
Beamer at Wheaton College, Illinois, said it was "incredible" that
his former classmate's actions might have saved his life and those of
hundreds around Congress. "He was a real athlete, a basketball player who hung
around the jocks at college. But he was a quiet, smart guy with a nice smile.
You always got the sense that he had done his homework." The hijackers appear to have found themselves against at
least five powerful men determined to strike back. Jeremy Glick, 31, was a college rugby player and judo
champion. He telephoned his wife, Lyzabeth, to say there was talk of
"rushing" the hijackers. After telling her he loved her, he said:
"We decided we're going to do it." Mark Bingham, also 31 and a former college rugby player,
Thomas Burnett, 38, a California businessman, and Louis Nacke, 42, a
weightlifter with a Superman logo tattooed on his arm, are also believed to
have taken part. "He [Mr Nacke] was a warm, smiling individual who jumped
right into every situation, a guy who couldn't do enough for you," said
Robert Weisberg, his father-in-law. After tackling the hijacker guarding them, all five would
have had to charge up the aisle to storm the cockpit. The body of a male crew member, bound hand and foot, was
found yesterday. Earlier, the body of a flight attendant was found with her
hands bound. |