Todd Beamer

Todd Morgan Beamer (November 24, 1968 – September 11, 2001) was an American passenger aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked and crashed as part of the September 11 attacks in 2001.

He was one of the passengers who attempted to regain control of the aircraft from the hijackers.

During the struggle, the Boeing 757 lost control and crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing everyone on board, but saving the hijackers' intended target and additional victims.

Todd Beamer was born on November 24, 1968, in Flint, Michigan, to David Beamer, an IBM sales representative, and Peggy Jackson Beamer, a muralist, the middle child of three and only son.

Beamer and his two sisters, Melissa and Michele, were raised "with a strong biblical value system and work ethic".

The family relocated to Poughkeepsie, New York, and then to Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago, where David worked at Amdahl, a computer technology company.

Beamer attended Wheaton Christian Grammar School, where he played soccer, basketball, and baseball.

He attended Wheaton Academy, a Christian high school, from 1983 to 1985, where he excelled in the same sports.

He was elected class vice president in his junior year.

After David was promoted to vice president of Amdahl's California headquarters, the family moved, and Beamer spent his senior year at Los Gatos High School, southwest of San Jose, California.

Beamer attended California State University, Fresno, where he majored in physical therapy and played baseball, in the hopes of playing professionally, but injuries he suffered in an automobile accident ended these plans.

He returned home to Illinois and transferred to Wheaton College, a Christian liberal arts college.

At Wheaton College he majored initially in medicine before switching to business.

He continued to play baseball and as a senior became captain of the basketball team.

He graduated in 1991.

While at Wheaton College, he met Lisa Brosious, his future wife, during a senior seminar class.

Their first date was November 2, 1991, the 10-year anniversary of which they had been planning to celebrate at the time of his death.

Beamer subsequently worked for Wilson Sporting Goods while taking night classes at DePaul University, earning an M.B.A. in June 1993.

Beamer married Brosious on May 14, 1994, in Peekskill, New York, and they moved to Plainsboro, New Jersey, where Beamer began working with Oracle Corporation, selling systems applications and database software as a field marketing representative.

Within months, Beamer was promoted to account manager.

He held that position until his death.

Beamer and Lisa taught Sunday school at Princeton Alliance Church for six years, and worked in youth ministry.

Beamer also played on the church softball team.

He was a staunch fan of the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bulls, and Chicago Bears.

In 2000, the Beamers moved to Cranbury, New Jersey, with their two sons.

Beamer's work required him to travel up to four times a month, sometimes for as long as a week.

In 2001, he earned a five-day trip to Italy with his wife for being a top sales performer.

They returned home on Monday, September 10, at 5:00 pm EDT.

Although Beamer could have left that night for a Tuesday business meeting in California, he opted instead to spend time with his pregnant wife, who was due with their third child the following January.

He left home at 6:15 am the next morning, to take an early flight from Newark to San Francisco to meet with representatives of the Sony Corporation at 1:00 pm, planning to return on a red-eye flight that night.

United Flight 93 was scheduled to depart at 8:00 am, but the Boeing 757 did not depart until 42 minutes later due to runway traffic delays.

Four minutes later, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower.

At 9:03 am, 17 minutes later, as United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower, United 93 was climbing to cruising altitude, heading west over New Jersey and into Pennsylvania.

At 9:25 am, Flight 93 was above eastern Ohio, and its pilot radioed Cleveland controllers to inquire about an alert that had been flashed on his cockpit computer screen to "beware of cockpit intrusion."

Three minutes later, Cleveland controllers could hear screams over the cockpit's open microphone.

Moments later, the hijackers, led by the Lebanese Ziad Samir Jarrah, took over the plane's controls, disengaged the autopilot, and told passengers, "Keep remaining sitting [sic]. We have a bomb on board."

Beamer and the other passengers were herded into the back of the plane.

Within six minutes, the plane changed course and was heading for Washington, D.C.

Several of the passengers made phone calls to loved ones, who informed them about the two planes that had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and the third into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia.

Beamer tried to place a credit card call through a phone located on the back of a plane seat, but was routed to a customer-service representative, who passed him on to GTE airphone supervisor Lisa Jefferson.