Copyright © 2001 by Hugo S. Cunningham

"We're all gonna die, but three of us are going to do something ... I love you, honey."
--final cell phone call of Tom Burnett, UA93 passenger, to his wife.
[reported in "Boston Globe," Wed 12 Sep 2001, p. A10]

"You ready? Okay, let's roll."
--last recorded words of Todd Beamer, UA93 passenger
[reported in "The Observer International," Sun 2 Dec
http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903.610331,00.html

"There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."
-- Winston S. Churchill

"The dream of my life has risen to become fact. Self-defense in the ghetto will have been a reality. ... I have been a witness to the magnificent, heroic fighting of Jewish men in battle."
-- Mordecai Anielewicz, commander of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising (final letter, dated 23 April 1943)

The 11 Sep 2001 terrorists were able to use three of their captive aircraft as gasoline bombs against crowded buildings, murdering thousands. There is every reason to believe their plans were the same for Flight UA93 (Newark-San Francisco). But instead it crashed harmlessly in a corn field. Tom Burnett's last phone call suggests why.

The greatness of the American people lies in their willingness to take personal responsibility when necessary, rather than passively waiting on their rulers.

Even under the best political constitution, rulers can become arrogant, corrupt, or simply ineffective. And sometimes challenges arise that even the best-willed and trained professionals cannot deal with. With the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, our nation's first leaders cautioned their successors never to cut themselves off from the spontaneous support of ordinary Americans.

By honoring the passengers of Flight UA93, we will send a message to our enemies: though they may decapitate our leadership, our people will find in themselves the leadership needed to recover and go after them.

"The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
--J.R.R. Tolkien

2 Questions:

(1) Who, specifically, would we honor with the award?
It turns out we probably will know who they are, thanks to cell phone calls by several passengers.
An article appeared in the "New York Times" Thur, 13 Sep 2001, pp. A1, A21. "On a Doomed Jet, Passengers Vowed to Perish Fighting"
[Later note: names cited in all accounts are Jeremy Glick, Mark Bingham, and Todd Beamer (whose widow was invited to attend Pres. Bush's address to Congress on 20 Sep). Thomas E. Burnett is cited in most accounts, and the name of Lou Nacke has also come up. (y10921)]

(2) Is the Congressional Medal of Honor restricted to military on active duty?
Yes. We could, retroactively, rule that the UA93 heroes, as "unorganized militia," were called to active duty when they discussed their options with ground control.

It turns out, however, that we already have a civilian "Congressional Gold medal" of comparable distinction, only awarded to two or three people per year in recent years.


There is a House Resolution 2917 to award gold medals to

"(1) Jeremy Glick, Todd Beamer, Thomas Burnett, Jr., and Mark Bingham; and
"(2) other passengers or crew members on board United Airlines Flight 93 who are identified by the Attorney General as having aided in the effort to resist the hijackers on board the plane."

Some other bills would honor all 40 passengers and crew equally, eg Senate Bill S1434 and House resolution HR2916.

Legislation is easily researched at the US Library of Congress site
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/terrorleg.htm

http://flight93.org

http://www.unitedheroes.com

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