Todd Beamer

Todd Beamer

On the morning of September 11th, 2001 terrorists hijacked four airplanes. One of those airplanes didn’t land in the hijackers’ desired destination but instead crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania. Although the crash killed all those aboard, the courageous actions of several passengers saved thousands of other lives. One of these passengers is my hero, Todd Beamer.

What you might not know about Todd is that he was a hero to his friends, family, and community even before this tragic date. As an adolescent Todd described himself by athletics. He excelled in baseball, basketball, and soccer, and then went on to play baseball at Fresno State looking toward a career. He later found it wasn’t for him and moved back to Illinois. There he attended a coed Christian school, Wheaton College, and met his future wife, Lisa. Together they were strong Christians and taught Sunday school at their church. Along with this Todd did numerous other things to help out his community, offering assistance whenever he could.

The couple then moved to Cranbury, New Jersey, where they had their two sons, David and Andrew. Todd’s work was very demanding in New Jersey causing him to travel up to four times a month for as long as a week, and he was constantly on the phone or computer. He was supposed to catch a plane September 10th for work purposes but instead decided to catch an early flight the next morning so he could spend more time with his family.

On United Airline Flight 93 on September 11th a nightmare became true. The hijackers had taken control and the passengers knew that they had to do something. They started planning and many made frantic phone calls home to inform their families of the horrible occurrences that had taken place. Todd called a GTE operator and told her that he along with other passengers on board had plans to act against the terrorists. He also asked the operator to pray with him. When they had finished reciting the 23rd Psalm together, Todd asked her to call his wife and his 2 sons and tell them everything. After the 13-minute conversation ended, Todd put down the phone but kept it on. The last thing the operator heard was, “Let’s roll.”

The amazing courage of Todd Beamer was why I picked him as my hero. He is an American inspiration for generations to come, and he will always be remembered.