The Legacy Lives on: Honoring Two Los Gatos Heroes

“Are you ready? OK, let’s roll.” Twenty-five years ago, two Los Gatos High School graduates boarded United Airlines flight 93, a plane that would never reach its final destination. To commemorate 25 years since Mark Bingham and Todd Beamer’s momentous actions, two California Air National Guard F-15C’s from the 144th Fighter Wing at Fresno Yosemite Airport conducted a flyover of Los Gatos High School’s varsity football game Friday night. 

Mark Kendall Bingham was born May 22nd 1970 in Phoenix, Arizona as the only child to his mother and father Alice Hoagland and Gerald Bingham. He grew up and spent his early years in Miami, Florida, moving to southern California and later the Bay Area where he graduated in 1988 from Los Gatos Highschool. He played on the Los Gatos High School rugby team before going on to UC Berkeley, where he played for the California Golden Bears. He later became a public relations executive who founded his own company, the Bingham Group. 

Todd Morgan Beamer, was born November 24th, 1968 in Flint, Michigan to his mother and father Peggy Jackson Beamer and David Beamer. He was the middle child of three and was the only son. The family later moved to Poughkeepsie, New York, then Wheaton, Illinois, and later to Los Gatos, California where Todd Beamer spent his senior year at Los Gatos High School, although not much is known about his time there. 

On September 11th, 2001, Bingham arrived at Newark International Airport, rushing to catch his flight back to San Francisco, At 7:40am, he was the last to board the aircraft in seat 4D next to passenger Tom Edward Burnett Jr.,who was also one of the four who charged the hijackers. Beamer had been on a trip to Italy with his wife Lisa, before returning home September 10th, leaving at 6:15am from his home and catching Flight 93 seat 10D from Newark to San Francisco to meet with Sony executives that afternoon at 1:00pm and catch the red-eye home. Beamer sat down and started making business calls, unaware of what was about to unfold. 

At 9:28 am, while the plane was over eastern Ohio, the pilot radioed air traffic control about a cockpit-intrusion alert; three minutes later, controllers heard screaming over the open cockpit microphone. The hijackers, led by Ziad Jarrah, then took control, disengaged the autopilot, told passengers there was a bomb on board, and moved everyone toward the back of the plane. After multiple phone calls to family members and deliberation between the passengers and flight attendants Sandra Bradshaw and CeeCee Lyles, the group charged at 9:57am. Ziad Jarrah at the controls rolled the plane side to side and pitched up and down to try to hamper the revolt. At 10:00am, a person is heard yelling, “Roll it!” most likely referring to a beverage cart the passengers were using at a ram, only a minute later can a hijacker be heard saying in arabic, “is that it? Shall we put it down?” suggesting crashing the aircraft. The aircraft crashed at 10:03am in Stonycreek Township in Shanksville, Pennsylvania at around a 48-degree nose down attitude.

Bingham and Beamer have been and will always be remembered as true symbols of courage and bravery, stepping in to save the lives of those they didn’t even know. Bingham and Beamer’s name appears at the National 9/11 Memorial at the south pool on panel S-67, and also appears at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania on the granite panels that make up the name walls. The film The Flight That Fought Back (2005) also commemorates the men's actions, portraying the passengers during the uprising and subsequent crash of Flight 93.

Lisa Jefferson, the GTE Airphone operator Todd Beamer called later said "He was calm through the entire conversation, and I tried to stay just as calm with him." She recalled Todd asking her: "In case I don't make it through this, would you please call my family and let them know how much I love them?"

Mark Bingham’s partner at the time, Paul Holm, said, "If he knew that lives were at stake, I'm convinced with every bone in my body that he would have jumped into action, he was physically fit and strong, and guns and weapons didn't bother him." Todd Beamer is known best by his words, “Are you ready? OK, let’s roll.” where the words he uttered just before him and others leapt into action to prevent the hijackers from reaching their end goal, most likely the US Capital building or the White House. The courageous sacrifice of the aircraft’s 44 occupants ensured the survival of hundreds, maybe thousands of Americans on the ground in Washington.

25 years later, nobody in Los Gatos has forgotten the legacy of these two incredible individuals. This fall, the school’s 9/11 memorial placard was moved from its place in redwood grove to a more visible location on campus. The flyover only lasted a short time, but the Legacy of Mark Kendall Bingham and Todd Morgan Beamer will be remembered for a lifetime. For those who have lost loved ones on 9/11 and to those of the town of Los Gatos, our former students have made a long and lasting legacy for Los Gatos Highschool and for this country. We thank you.