Todd Beamer

Todd Morgan Beamer was born on November 24, 1968 in California. He lived in Cranbury, New Jersey. He was very athletic. He got a master's degree in business administration. He died saving countless people and possibly anyone in the White House on September 11, 2001, more commonly known as 9/11. He was 32 when he died, but he died a hero. He had a wife named Lisa and three kids, Morgan Kay, Drew, and David. He died before his daughter was born. He and his wife taught Sunday school at their church for six years.

On September 10 Beamer was scheduled for a flight to San Francisco, but he delayed the flight to spend more time with his children after just getting back from Italy. He was an account manager for Oracle, a computer software company. His job made him travel constantly.

On the day of the flight, when Beamer was flying to San Francisco, passengers were calling people on the ground and discovered that their plane was being hijacked. When people called their families, there was almost no background noise. The passengers were staying calm. He tried to call his wife but the call wasn't connected. So he called a customer service supervisor. GTE customer service supervisor Lisa Jefferson said, "If I didn't know that it was a real hijacking, I would have thought it was a prank call because of how rational and methodical about what he was doing." It was amazing that nobody's call was getting dropped since so many people were calling. When he was calling Lisa, he recited a prayer with her. Lisa was on the phone when the plane crashed, but she didn't get disconnected when it crashed. The line just went silent. "I didn't get disconnected. When you get disconnected there's a squealing sound." Lisa says. He spoke to Lisa for 13 minutes.

The 29 passengers on the plane found out that their own plane was hijacked and Beamer gathered up other passengers and said, "Are you guys ready? Okay, let's roll." Those were his last audible words. He always used to say that to his family. A food cart was used to crash into the cockpit and there were many screams and cries. The passengers made the plane crash into a nearby field in Pennsylvania instead of the White House. Everyone on the plane died in the crash, but Todd saved countless lives even though his own life was lost. There are several memorials for him and all the people who died on 9/11. Many schools and other buildings are named after him, including the Todd Beamer Foundation which helps families going through trauma.

I think Todd Beamer is an extremely courageous man. He did so many great things with his short 32 years on this earth.