I am honored to be a cosponsor of this resolution memorializing the heroic crew and passengers of United Airlines Flight 93.
On September 11, as the fourth hijacked airplane, United Flight 93, flew west and then southeast, the passengers called friends and family on the ground. They learned the terrible news: hijackers had crashed three other airplanes into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. They knew their plane would also be turned into a fearsome weapon.
The hijackers underestimated the indomitability of the American spirit. We may never know the whole story of the events on Flight 93 after the hijackers seized control. However, the phone calls and the cockpit voice recorder have given us the heart of it: the passengers and crew knew they had to act, and they did. They talked, and they prayed, and then they rushed the cockpit to try to stop the hijackers. A few minutes later, the plane crashed to the ground in rural Pennsylvania.
The nation salutes the crew and passengers of Flight 93 for their bravery in the face of overwhelming danger and almost certain death. If the flight had continued on its path toward the nation’s Capitol, many more lives would have been lost. We might also have lost either the U.S. Capitol or the White House, the most powerful symbols of our nation, and known the world over as symbols of the world’s greatest democracy.
I especially wish to acknowledge the heroism of Mark Bingham from San Francisco. Six feet five inches tall, Mark had played rugby in college. At thirty-one years old, he was CEO of his own public relations firm. On the street late one night, he had wrestled a gun from the hands of a mugger. He was a risk-taker, a man who lived life to the fullest. I had the opportunity to join his partner, Paul Holm, and his family and friends in celebrating his life at a memorial service in San Francisco. Our hearts go out to them for their loss of this brave man.
House Concurrent Resolution 232 expresses the sense of the Congress that the United States owes its deepest gratitude to the passengers and crew of Flight 93, and calls for the placement of a memorial plaque on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol. It is with both great sadness and deep appreciation that I cast my vote for this resolution.