8B - The Michigan Daily - Monday, September 17, 2001
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001
The heroes
4
Flight 93 passengers likely saved
many lives while losing their own
4
by Rachel Green
Daily Staff Reporter
SHANKSVLLE, Pa. - The 45 passengers
of United Airlines Flight 93 did not survive last
week's terrorist attacks on the United States but
they are nothing less than heroes in the eyes of
many Americans whose lives they may have
saved.
Flight 93 was the only one of four hijacked
jets that did not hit a major target in the assault,
instead crashing into uninhabited farmland
about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
Both of Pennsylvania's senators suggested
several passengers were able to overtake the
hijackers and divert the plane from its path
toward Washington.
Republican Sen. Arlen Specter said he thinks
the plane was headed toward the U.S. Capitol,
"that I believe is standing today because of the
efforts of the people who are buried not too far
from here."
Specter named three men: "Mark Bingham,
Jeremy Glick and Thomas Burnett, who may
have saved the U. S. Capitol and its leaders, Sen-
ate and House members, including the two who
are sitting here today."
To these three passengers, Specter said he
and fellow Republican Sen. Rick Santorum
want to give the Medal of Freedom, the govern-
ment's highest civilian award.
"Here in particular I think we owe a special
moment of thanksgiving for what we believe
happened on this plane," Santorum said.
The senators denied reports of military inter-
vention in the crash of Flight 93.
Two planes were flying within a 25-mile
radius of Flight 93 just before it went down, one
a small private jet and the other a C-130 military
cargo aircraft, but Specter said neither plane
was involved with the crash.
When asked if Flight 93 had been shot down,
FBI Special Agent William Crowley said the
military plane had no weapons on board.
Santorum confirmed Crowley's statement
that military force was not used to bring the
commercial flight down.
"There was no military action," Santorume
said."; 4a,
The events of what occurred in the minutes
before Flight 93 crashed are still unknown.
The "black box" flight data recorder was
located at 8:25 p.m. Friday in a crater created by
the crash 25 feet below the earth's surface and
was immediately sent to labs for testing, Crow-
ley said. While the results of these tests may not
be available for weeks, workers are continuing
to clean debris from the crash, found as far from
the site as New Baltimore, eight miles away.
Because of the severity of the crash, Specter
said, no body parts remain. Instead, victims
must be identified by DNA and dental records.
Several forensic dentists have been called to
Shanksville to help with the identification
process, Crowley said.
Santorum and Specter presented the FBI
agents working at the crash site with the Ameri- AP PHOT(
can flag that hangs over the U.S. Capitol, thank- An American flag flies from a makeshift altar overlooking the ongoing investigation of the United Flight 93
ing the agents for their dedication. crash site in Shanksville, Pa., yesterday. The plane crashed after being hijacked In Tuesday's terrorist attacks.
4
4
Firemen
promoted
as 282 lie
in rubble
NEW YORK (AP) - New York
promoted 168 firefighters yesterday
and no one laughed or beamed with
pride. There was only heartache.
These were the replacements for a
Fire Department command structure
that was eviscerated in a few moments
on Tuesday morning, when the World
Trade Center toppled. Their promo-
tions were a necessity, not a joy.
"No one really wants to be here. No
one really wanted to be promoted,"
said Jerry Horton, who became a cap-
tain during the ceremony.
With nearly 300 firefighters still lost
beneath the jumbled remains of the
twin towers, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
compared the promotions to battlefield
commissions awarded during wartime.
"We are shaken but we are not
defeated," said Fire Commissioner
Thomas Von Essen. "We stare adversi-
ty in the eye and we move on."
Von Essen delivered his remarks in
a strong, unwavering voice, but his
face twisted in pain the moment he fin-
ished. He collapsed into a chair on the
stage and hung his head as Giuliani
stepped to the podium.
Giuliani hailed the firefighters as
heroes, then helped swear the promot-
ed into their new positions.
Some of the men were not there:
Some of them were still under the
wreckage of the Trade Center their
promotions a gesture of faith that they
and some of their brethren will survive
The men awaited their honors in
plaza adjacent to the departmentI
Brooklyn headquarters, sitting stoically
under the same azure skies that delit-
ered death to their colleagues five days
ago.
No one cried.
The promotions reached all the wa
to the top. Chief of Operations Daniel
A. Nigro was named Chief of Depart-
ment, the highest uniformed position #i
the organization. He replaces Petei
Ganci, the former department chief;
who died in Tuesday's attacks and was
buried Saturday.
After the ceremony the firefighters
chatted quietly with their families. On
man tousled his son's hair. Anothet
lifted his daughter to his shoulders. A
few posed for snapshots, their faces
pale and their smiles thin-lipped.
This thought was never far from any
one's mind: Less than two miles away
hundreds of their comrades remained
entombed beneath a mountain of twisted
steel and crumbled concrete. So far only
18 of the 300 fire department personnel
thought to have been lost in the disaster
are confirmed dead.
"I need you all to go out there a'd tot
help us do the very best we can to get
our guys," Von Essen said.
The New York Fire Department is
accustomed to burying its own. A
memorial at its Brooklyn headquarters
names more than 750 lirefighters who
have fallen in the line of duty since the
department was formed in 1865.
Never have so many been lost at
one time. With 11,400 firefighters on
the force one out of every 38 is either
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