Todd Beamer | |
|---|---|
 Beamer in 2000 | |
| Born | Todd Morgan Beamer (1968-11-24)November 24, 1968 Flint, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | September 11, 2001(2001-09-11) (aged 32) |
| Cause of death | Plane crash during theSeptember 11 attacks |
| Education | California State University, Fresno Wheaton College |
| Occupation(s) | Account manager,Oracle Corporation |
| Known for | Heroism as a passenger aboardUnited Airlines Flight 93 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
Todd Morgan Beamer (November 24, 1968 – September 11, 2001) was an American passenger aboardUnited Airlines Flight 93, which washijacked and crashed as part of theSeptember 11 attacks in 2001. He was one of the passengers who attempted to regain control of the aircraft from the hijackers. During the struggle, theBoeing 757 lost control and crashed into a field inStonycreek Township nearShanksville, Pennsylvania, killing everyone on board, but savingthe hijackers' intended target and potential additional victims.
Todd Morgan Beamer was born on November 24, 1968, inFlint, Michigan, to David Beamer, an IBM sales representative, and Peggy Jackson Beamer, amuralist,[1] the middle child of three and only son.[2] Beamer and his two sisters, Melissa and Michele, were raised "with a strong biblical value system and work ethic".[citation needed] The family relocated toPoughkeepsie, New York, and then toWheaton, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago, where David worked atAmdahl, a computer technology company.[1]
Beamer attended Wheaton Christian Grammar School, where he playedsoccer,basketball, andbaseball.[1] He attendedWheaton Academy, a Christian high school, from 1983 to 1985,[3] where he excelled in the same sports.[4] He was elected class vice president in his junior year. After David was promoted to vice president of Amdahl's California headquarters, the family moved, and Beamer spent his senior year atLos Gatos High School, southwest of San Jose, California.[1]
Beamer attendedCalifornia State University, Fresno, where he majored inphysical therapy and played baseball, in the hopes of playing professionally, but injuries he suffered in an automobile accident ended these plans. He returned home to Illinois and transferred toWheaton College, a Christian liberal arts college. At Wheaton College he majored initially in medicine before switching to business. He continued to play baseball and as a senior became captain of the basketball team.[1] He graduated in 1991.[5]
While at Wheaton College, he metLisa Brosious, his future wife, during a senior seminar class.[1][4] Their first date was November 2, 1991, the 10-year anniversary of which they had been planning to celebrate at the time of his death.[4]
Beamer subsequently worked for Wilson Sporting Goods while taking night classes atDePaul University, earning anM.B.A. in June 1993.[1][4]
Beamer married Brosious on May 14, 1994, in Peekskill, New York, and they moved toPlainsboro, New Jersey, where Beamer began working withOracle Corporation, selling systems applications and database software as a field marketing representative.[1][4] Within months, Beamer was promoted to account manager.[1] He held that position until his death.[6]
Beamer and Lisa taught Sunday school at Princeton Alliance Church for six years, and worked in youth ministry.[1][4] Beamer also played on the church softball team. He was a staunch fan of theChicago Cubs,Chicago Bulls, andChicago Bears.[4] In 2000, the Beamers moved toCranbury, New Jersey,[1][4][7] with their two sons.[7]
Beamer's work required him to travel up to four times a month, sometimes for as long as a week. In 2001, he earned a five-day trip to Italy with his wife for being a top sales performer. They returned home on Monday, September 10, at 5:00 pm EDT. Although Beamer could have left that night for a Tuesday business meeting inCalifornia, he opted instead to spend time with his pregnant wife, who was due with their third child the following January. He left home at 6:15 the next morning, to take an early flight from Newark to San Francisco to meet with representatives of theSony Corporation at 1:00 pm, planning to return on ared-eye flight that night.[1][4]
Flight 93 was scheduled to depart at 8:00 am, but the Boeing 757 did not depart until 42 minutes later due to runway traffic delays. Four minutes later,American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower. At 9:03 am, 17 minutes later, asUnited Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower, Flight 93 was climbing to cruising altitude, heading west overNew Jersey and intoPennsylvania. At 9:25 am, Flight 93 was above easternOhio, and its pilot radioed Cleveland controllers to inquire about an alert that had been flashed on his cockpit computer screen to "beware of cockpit intrusion." Three minutes later, Cleveland controllers could hear screams over the cockpit's open microphone. Moments later, the hijackers, led by the LebaneseZiad Jarrah, took over the plane's controls, disengaged the autopilot, and told passengers, "Keep remaining sitting [sic]. We have a bomb on board." Beamer and the other passengers were herded into the back of the plane. Within six minutes, the plane changed course and was heading forWashington, D.C.[1][8]
Several of the passengers made phone calls to loved ones, who informed them about the two planes that had crashed into theWorld Trade Center inNew York City and the third intothe Pentagon inArlington County, Virginia. Beamer tried to place a credit card call through a phone located on the back of a plane seat, but was routed to a customer-service representative, who passed him on toGTE airphone supervisor Lisa Jefferson. With FBI agents listening in on their call, Beamer informed Jefferson that hijackers had taken over Flight 93, and that one passenger had been killed. He also stated that two of the hijackers had knives, and that one appeared to have a bomb strapped around his waist. When the hijackers veered the plane sharply south, Beamer exclaimed, "We're going down! We're going down!"[1][8][9]
Following this, the passengers and flight crew decided to act.[1] According to accounts of cell phone conversations, Beamer, along withMark Bingham,Tom Burnett, andJeremy Glick, formed a plan to take the plane back from the hijackers.[10] They were joined by other passengers, including Lou Nacke, Rich Guadagno, Alan Beaven, Honor Elizabeth Wainio, Linda Gronlund, and William Cashman, along with flight attendants Sandra Bradshaw and CeeCee Lyles, in discussing their options and voting on a course of action, ultimately deciding to storm the cockpit and take over the plane.[1] Beamer told Jefferson that the group was planning to "jump on" the hijackers and fly the plane into the ground before the hijackers' plan could be followed through.[7][8] Beamer recited theLord's Prayer and the23rd Psalm with Jefferson, prompting others to join in. Beamer requested of Jefferson, "If I don't make it, please call my family and let them know how much I love them." After this, Jefferson heard muffled voices and Beamer clearly answering, "Are you ready? Okay.Let's roll." These were the last words spoken by Beamer heard by Lisa Jefferson.[1][8][9]
According to the9/11 Commission Report, after the plane'scockpit voice recorder was recovered, it revealed pounding and crashing sounds against the cockpit door and shouts and screams in English. "Let's get them!" a passenger cries. A hijacker shouts, "Allahu akbar." Jarrah repeatedly pitched the plane to knock passengers off their feet, but the passengers continued their assault and at 10:02:17, a male passenger said, "Turn it up!" A second later, a hijacker said, "Pull it down! Pull it down!" At 10:02:33, Jarrah was heard to plead, "Hey! Hey! Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me."[1] The plane crashed upside down[11] into an empty field inShanksville, Pennsylvania, at 563 miles per hour (906 km/h), killing everyone on board. The plane was 20 minutes of flying time away from its suspected target, the White House or the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. According toVice President Dick Cheney,President George W. Bush had given an order to shoot the plane down had it continued its path to Washington.[1]
Beamer was survived by his wife, Lisa, their sons, David Beamer and Andrew Beamer (known as "Drew"), who were three and one at the time of Beamer's death, and their daughter Morgan, who wouldn’t be born until January 9, 2002. The President and First LadyLaura Bush were among those who sent letters to Morgan upon her birth.[12][13][14][7][15][16][17] In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people on September 20, 2001, which Lisa Beamer attended, President Bush praised the courage of United 93's passengers, naming Beamer in particular, whom he called "an exceptional man."
In a November 8 address from theWorld Congress Center inAtlanta, Georgia, Bush would invoke Beamer's last-heard words, saying in his speech, "Some of our greatest moments have been acts of courage for which no one could have been prepared. But we have our marching orders. My fellow Americans, let's roll!"[1] He would use them again in the 2002State of the Union address: "For too long our culture has said, 'If it feels good, do it.' Now America is embracing a new ethic and a new creed: 'Let's roll.'"[18]
A nonprofit foundation was founded in October 2001 to counsel traumatized children of 9/11 victims and survivors.[1][19] Beamer's best friend, Doug Macmillan, quit his job to become the administrator of the Foundation.[9]
In 2002, Beamer's widow, Lisa, wrote a book with coauthor Ken Abraham,Let's Roll! Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage.
In 2002, the passengers of Flight 93, including Beamer, were posthumously awarded theArthur Ashe Courage Award.[20][21]
TheCranbury, New Jersey, post office was dedicated to Beamer on May 4, 2002, as a result of anAct of Congress authored by CongressmanRush D. Holt, Jr. The bill was signed into law by President George W. Bush.[19][22]
In 2003,Wheaton College honored Beamer, an alumnus, by opening the Todd M. Beamer Center, which encompasses Anderson Commons, Coray Alumni Gym and the Student Center located on the lower level.[5][19] That same year,Todd Beamer High School opened inFederal Way, Washington.[19][23]
In February 2010, the city ofFresno, California, dedicated Todd Beamer Park.[24]
TheFlight 93 National Memorial located at the crash site inStonycreek Township[25] includes a concrete and glass visitor center,[26] and a white marbleWall of Names—completed in 2011[25]—on which Beamer's name and those of his 32 fellow passengers and seven crewmembers are engraved on individual panels.[27]
At theNational 9/11 Memorial, Beamer and the other passengers and crew of Flight 93 are memorialized at the South Pool, on Panel S-68.[28] An Oracle business card bearing Beamer's name and his two-toneRolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust wristwatch, both of which were found damaged at the crash site, are on display inside the memorial museum.[29]
On September 10, 2013, Wheaton Academy honored Beamer by unveiling a plaque dedicated to him on the grounds of the Academy, next to a plaque of a former student who was killed in Afghanistan.[3]
To honor Beamer on the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, fellowDePaul University alumnus Nicholas Hahn, III created the Todd M. Beamer Memorial Scholarship to educate and inspire DePaul students about Beamer's heroic example.[30]
On Saturday, May 4th, a dedication ceremony was held at the Cranbury post office. The United States Postal Service dedicated Cranbury's post office to Todd Beamer, a Cranbury resident who gave his life aboard United flight 93 on September 11th.
13. When will the Memorial be finished?
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