Mark Bingham, Todd Beamer

Flight 93 Honor (einside.kent.edu)

On 9/11 of 2001 there were four planes on United States soil hijacked while airborne by terrorists. Two of those planes were crashed into the Twin Towers (World Trade Center); the third plane was flown into the Pentagon. The fourth plane however did not reach its destination because of two heroes aboard Flight 93. Mark Bingham and Todd Beamer stormed the cockpit and overtook the plane and crashed it intentionally into a rural Pennsylvania field. Mark and Todd are heroes because they were ordinary people who decided to be fearless leaders and saved a lot of lives.

Mark and Todd were from two very different but ordinary backgrounds. Mark lived in San Francisco. He owned his own public relations group "The Bingham Group". He was 31. He was on the plane for business reasons. On the morning of 9/11 he nearly overslept his flight and was the last one to board the planes. During the hijacking he called his mother on the air phone and said, "This is Mark, I love you" then hung up (Flight 93). He was also a former rugby champion at the University of California. Todd Beamer lived near Cranbury, New Jersey. He was an account manager for Oracle, a computer software company. He was 32. He was traveling on a business trip to San Francisco. During the hijacking, he tried to reach his wife but was unable to get her on her phone. He then called an operator company who said that they would relay his message to his pregnant wife and two sons. (Flight 93)

These two men were fearless leaders. They led others along with them into the cockpit to take down the plane. Todd reached an airfone customer service representative who he told all the important details and critical information to. After the representative told Todd about what had happened to the Twin Towers they realized that they were probably being planned for something like that as well. At that point Todd and Mark decided they were going to try to overtake the plane. At the end of the call the last words the operator heard him say to the others were, "Are you ready? Okay, let's roll." (Flight 93)

When they took down that plane, although they ended the lives of the passengers and crew members that were aboard, they saved potentially thousands of lives and having to rebuild a major American structure. From what researchers can guess from the track of their route the terrorists were heading straight for the nation's capital Washington D.C., either to the Capitol building or the White House. There are 3,366 full time employees in the White House and a lot more people than that in and out of the Capitol every day. There were only 44 people aboard Flight 93. So by taking down the plane they saved 1000s of people's lives. (Government Employees)

Flight 93 Crew and Passengers (minnpost.com))

There is a memorial bench for the two heroes in the Redwood Estates which they did everything to deserve. It would be a very difficult decision to go into a something knowing that you could potentially die, but also knowing that you could save a lot of people as well. Mark and Todd are heroes because one important thing about being a hero is having courage to do what's right and to help other people. Mark and Todd are heroes because they were ordinary people who decided to be fearless leaders and saved very many lives. On 9/11 it was devastating for the whole country but hearing stories like Flight 93 helped softened the blow knowing there were people around the country who were willing to stand up for America.