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Ashcroft praises crash victims as heroes
www.planetout.com/pno/news/article.html?2001/09/21/1      

Tom Musbach, Gay.com / PlanetOut.com Network
      Friday, September 21, 2001 / 02:49 PM

SUMMARY: The U.S. attorney general declared the passengers and crew of hijacked Flight 93, including Mark Bingham, heroes.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft visited rural Shanksville, Penn., on Thursday to inspect where a hijacked plane crashed last week and to announce that its crew and passengers were heroes for trying to overtake the flight's hijackers.

Ashcroft, the highest ranking U.S. law enforcement officer, declared the crash site "hallowed ground," adding, "This is because people made heroic efforts to make sure they (hijackers) didn't imperil the lives of others."

On the morning of Sept. 11, United Flight 93 became the fourth airliner that day hijacked by terrorists, but it was the only one that didn't slam into a crowded national landmark. Authorities believe the flight was headed for a historic site in Washington, perhaps the Capitol or the White House, but passengers may have prevented the hijackers from hitting their target, crashing the plane in Pennsylvania. All 44 people on board were killed.

Several passengers phoned loved ones before the crash, and some indicated that a small group planned to overpower the terrorists, who claimed to have a bomb.

One of the passengers was Mark Bingham, a gay rugby player whom relatives and friends believe was one of those who helped thwart the hijackers' plans.

FBI Director Robert Mueller, who accompanied Ashcroft to the site, said, "We believe those passengers on board this jet were absolute heroes."

Nine days after the crash, however, investigators still have no evidence of a struggle between passengers and the hijackers. Mueller said that the FBI and National Transportation Safety Board are trying to transcribe "what little dialogue there is" on the plane's voice recorder, which was recovered last week. He refused to give more details, according to Reuters.

The two Republican U.S. senators from Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum, toured the site last Friday and said the flight's passengers and crew could be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Two other hijacked planes destroyed the two World Trade Center towers in New York, and one crashed into the Pentagon, on Sept. 11. The latest death toll estimates are near 6,500.

Tribute & Memorial to Our Brothers and Sisters
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Senators seek honors for hijack spoilers
 www.planetout.com/pno/news/article.html?2001/09/21/1     

Tom Musbach, Gay.com / PlanetOut.com Network
      Monday, September 17, 2001 / 04:00 PM

SUMMARY: Mark Bingham and other passengers on Flight 93 may be awarded the nation's highest civilian honor for possibly thwarting the plane's hijackers.

Pennsylvania's two senators said on Friday that passengers on the hijacked flight that crashed near Pittsburgh last week could be awarded the nation's highest civilian honors for possibly preventing the destruction of a United States landmark.

As the nation observed a day of prayer and remembrance Friday, Republican Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum toured the crash site in Shanksville, Penn., and held a news conference at which they suggested the deceased passengers could be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, according to Reuters.

"All the indicators are that they rushed the pilot and brought the plane down," said Sen. Specter, referring to reports that some passengers tried to overpower the hijackers. According to the Reuters account, the senators did not single out specific passengers.

None of the 45 passengers and crew on United Airlines Flight 93 survived the crash, but several passengers made phone calls to relatives and indicated an intent to confront the hijackers.

The flight, which was en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, was one of four hijacked on the morning of Sept. 11, but it was the only one that did not hit a major U.S. landmark.

The senators believe the plane was headed for the Capitol or the White House.

"There's a deep debt of gratitude," Specter said. "We're now looking into the Freedom Medal for those people who were on board the plane who may have saved the U.S. Capitol, and the senators and House members including the two sitting here."

The cockpit voice recorder was found Friday night at the crash scene, 25 feet below the ground. FBI officials initially reported the device was in "fairly good condition," but they've been unable to retrieve information yet and have sent the recorder to the manufacturer for assistance.

A memorial service was held Sunday in San Francisco for Mark Bingham (pictured), 31, who may have been one of the passengers to confront the hijackers. Friends remembered that the 6-foot-4-inch Bingham, an accomplished rugby player and openly gay man, once rushed into traffic to save a child from getting hit by a car.

"He was this physically imposing but incredibly compassionate and intelligent man who would not have stood by and let terrorists kill thousands more people," said Bryce Eberhart, one of Bingham's teammates.

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