PHILADELPHIA (AP) - ``Are you guys ready? Let's roll!'' is an expression Todd Beamer used whenever his wife and two young sons
were leaving their home for a family outing.
The 32-year-old businessman and Sunday school teacher said the same thing before he and other passengers apparently took action against
hijackers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 on Tuesday, shortly
before the plane crashed in a western Pennsylvania field.
The jetliner, which government officials suspect was headed for a
high-profile target in Washington, was the
fourth to crash in a coordinated terrorist attack that killed thousands, and the only one
that didn't take lives on the ground.
``He was gentle by nature, he was also very competitive, and he
wouldn't stand for anyone being hurt,'' said Beamer's wife, Lisa, who was
told of his last words by an operator who spoke to him. ``Knowing that
he helped save lives by bringing that plane down ... it brings
joy to a
situation where there isn't much to be found.''
Todd Beamer placed a call on one of the Boeing 757's on-board
telephones and spoke for 13 minutes with GTE operator Lisa D. Robinson, Beamer's wife said. He provided detailed information
about the hijacking and - after the operator told him about the morning's
World Trade Center and Pentagon (news - web sites) attacks - said he
and others on the plane were planning to act against the terrorists
aboard.
``They may have realized that (the hijackers)
were planning to do the same thing with their plane,'' Beamer said Sunday in a telephone
interview from her Hightstown, N.J., home. ``So they chose to
do what they could to prevent other people from being hurt.''
Before the call ended and with yelling heard
in the background, Todd Beamer asked the operator to pray with him. Together, they
recited the 23rd Psalm. Then he asked Robinson to promise she would call
his wife of seven years - who is expecting a third child - and their two
sons, ages 1 and 3.
After receiving clearance from investigators, Robinson kept her
promise Friday.
``People asked me if I'm upset that I didn't speak with him, but I'm
glad he called (Robinson) instead,'' Lisa Beamer said. ``I
would have been helpless. And I know what his last words would have been
to me, anyway.''
Beamer said her husband placed the call at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday
and told Robinson that there were three knife-wielding hijackers on board,
one who appeared to have a bomb tied to his chest with a belt. The
other
two hijackers took over the cockpit after forcing the pilot and
co-pilot out.
The jet was bobbing and changed course several times; the passengers
knew they would never land in San Francisco.
``They realized they were going to die.
Todd said he and some other passengers were going to jump on the guy with the bomb,'' Lisa
Beamer said.
Several other passengers made phone calls from the jet before it
crashed southeast of Pittsburgh: Jeremy Glick, 31; Mark Bingham, 31; and
Thomas Burnett Jr. 38. Glick and Burnett said they were going
to do something.
Todd Beamer dropped the phone after talking to Robinson, leaving the
line open. It was then that the operator heard Beamer's words:
``Let's roll.''
Then silence.
Shortly afterwards, the plane crashed, killing all 45 aboard.
``Some people live their whole lives, long lives, without having
left anything behind,'' Lisa Beamer said. ``My sons will be told
their whole lives that their father was a hero, that he saved lives. It's
a great legacy for a father to leave his children.''
