I turned the TV on this morning and I watched the families of 9/11 victims read the names of their loved ones at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan.

And the moments of silence, marking the moments passenger jets were flown into the Twin Towers. And the moments the towers fell.

I couldn't help but think about Flight 93, the United Airlines passenger jet that terrorists overtook, intending to crash into some important target. Maybe the White House. Maybe the US Capitol.

The passengers made calls to their families as they were forced to move to the back of the plane.

attachment-Tom Burnett - Wikimedia Commons
Tom Burnett, Jr. (Wikimedia Commons)
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One of those passengers -- Bloomington native Tom Burnett, Jr. -- called his wife, Deena from the plane.

One of his alma maters -- St. John's University, where Burnett went to school in the mid '80s and played football -- republished the chilling transcript of his conversation a few years ago:

"Don't worry, we're going to do something."

Burnett and the other passengers tried to retake the plane. They were successful in preventing the plane from hitting its intended target, whatever that specifically was.

Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsvylvania killing everyone onboard.

There is a memorial near that site and a Wall of Names maintained by the National Park Service.

 

 

Tom Burnett's name is inscribed there with the other heroes of Flight 93.

 

Photo: Bruce Peterson
Photo: Bruce Peterson
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Burnett is buried at Fort Snelling in St. Paul.

 

 

Officials laid wreaths in Shanksville today to remember Burnett and the other heroes of 9/11

Burnett went to St. John's University, the Carlson School of Management at University of Minnesota and Pepperdine University.

He was 38 and the father of four.

And he was a hero.

Explore the 9-11 Artifact at the Veteran's Monument in Rockville, Minnesota

Gallery Credit: Tim Lyon, TSM St. Cloud

See 20 Ways America Has Changed Since 9/11

For those of us who lived through 9/11, the day’s events will forever be emblazoned on our consciousnesses, a terrible tragedy we can’t, and won’t, forget. Now, two decades on, Stacker reflects back on the events of 9/11 and many of the ways the world has changed since then. Using information from news reports, government sources, and research centers, this is a list of 20 aspects of American life that were forever altered by the events of that day. From language to air travel to our handling of immigration and foreign policy, read on to see just how much life in the United States was affected by 9/11.

Gallery Credit: Madison Troyer

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