United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, was delayed.
By the time four terrorists took control of the Boeing 757, some of the 40 passengers and crew who were able to make phone calls could glean that other flights that morning had been hijacked and crashed.
Those onboard took a vote and decided to fight back, diverting the doomed airliner from wherever the terrorists were planning to continue their attack and bringing it down in a field in Shanksville, in rural western Pennsylvania.
“Are you guys ready? Let’s roll,” said passenger Todd Beamer, audible through an open connection on the plane’s in-flight telephone, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported days later.
Lorraine G. Bay, the third-most-senior flight attendant for United out of Newark, wasn’t among those able to reach loved ones that morning, her cousin Ed Root said Saturday.
But her family has an idea that she was doing her best to do her job in those terrifying last moments.
“She was just one of those people who would -- if somebody was really nervous flying, she would find that person and make sure that they were comforted,” said Root’s daughter, Emily Schenkel.
Family of Lorraine Bay, a flight attendant on United Airlines Flight 93, gather Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020, in Bethlehem, clockwise from top left, Emily and Stu Schenkel and their son, Nick; Emily's dad, Ed Root; the Schenkels' daughter, Lanie; and Nancy Root, who is Ed's wife and Emily's mom. Ed Root and Bay were cousins. Flight 93 was hijacked by terrorists and crashed Sept. 11, 2001, into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing 40 passengers and crew members.Kurt Bresswein | For lehighvalleylive.com
Root and his wife, Nancy, both of Allentown, and Schenkel and her family from Bethlehem spoke with lehighvalleylive.com on Saturday, one day after visiting the the Flight 93 National Memorial for the 19th anniversary service dedicated to the 40 victims.
Root spoke during the service, his second time doing so. Each time, he’s focused on more than just his personal loss and instead honors all those who were lost, the volunteers who came out to help the day of the crash and who continued to help — the ambassadors, as they’re known — as well as the survivor organizations formed to keep the victims' memory alive.
“It’s always an honor to represent the 40 heroes of Flight 93 and an honor to represent all the family members of the heroes of Flight 93, as well as the partners of this whole event -- the ambassadors, the Park Service people, the Friends of Flight 93,” said Root, who is vice president and a past president of the Families of Flight 93 group. Schenkel is treasurer, and she just joined the Friends of Flight 93.
Root visits the crash site regularly, having missed just two of the anniversary services, but also accompanying Bay’s widower, Erich Bay, on her birthday each July and at Christmas. Erich and Lorraine Bay were married for 22 years, and lived in East Windsor, New Jersey.
Each visit brings a range of emotions: sadness, of course, but also fond memories of those lost, and a genuine happiness to see the National Park Service staff, volunteers and others who maintain the memorial and help to interpret its meaning.
Normally, Families of Flight 93 President Gordie Felt speaks, but he was asked this year to help dedicate a memorial to his brother, passenger Edward Felt.
“He had asked me back in February before all this COVID stuff and everything else came up if I would take his place this year,” Root said.
The survivors' families agreed to close this year’s memorial service to the general public, due to concerns about crowding during the continuing coronavirus pandemic. This year’s anniversary also fell during the run-up to a closely contested battle for Pennsylvania between President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk with Ed Root and his wife Nancy to lay a wreath at a 19th anniversary observance of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., Friday, Sept. 11, 2020. Ed Root's cousin was flight attendant Lorraine Bay.AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Trump also spoke Friday in Shanksville, where Biden made an appearance and spoke with victims' families afterward, once the memorial site was reopened to visitors.
There was no campaigning Friday at the Flight 93 National Memorial, which has had bipartisan support since its design was chosen in 2005 by a jury on which Root served on up through the 2011 dedication of the Wall of Names, 2015 opening of the visitor center, 2018 completion of the Tower of Voices and installation in the tower just this year of 40 unique chimes, Root said.
“Both sides of the aisle have been unbelievably supportive,” Root said Saturday. “And President Trump and the vice president, Biden, were both there to honor the families and friends of the passengers and crew of Flight 93. So politics took a day off yesterday.”
During the service, Ed and Nancy Root accompanied Trump and first lady Melania Trump in laying a wreath at the memorial.
Later, Biden had a moment with Nick Schenkel, son of Emily Schenkel and her husband, Stu. He’s a seventh-grader at Northeast Middle School. Their daughter, Lorraine, who goes by Lanie, is named for Lorraine Bay. The Roots' son, Derek, also has a daughter whose name honors Bay’s memory: Abigail Grace Root, Grace being Bay’s middle name.
Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks with Nick Schenkel, a seventh-grader from Bethlehem, as his father, Stu Schenkel, left, looks on during a visit to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa., Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, to commemorate the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
Biden during his visit to Shanksville visited the local fire company, where he made good on a past promise to bring beer the next time he was in town, retrieving six packs of Bud Light and Iron City for volunteers, according to a report from the candidate’s press pool.
Trump, in his remarks, singled out U.S. Marine Corps veteran Jason Thomas, who on 9/11 helped dig through the rubble of the World Trade Center for 20 hours, leading to the rescue of two New York City police officers who were trapped. The president also spoke of David DeMato, an officer in the Navy Reserve who drove the day of the attacks to Manhattan from Chicago, where he worked as a police officer, to help.
At the Flight 93 memorial, only relatives of those who died and their guests are allowed at the actual crash site. The Roots and Schenkels took Thomas and DeMato with them to the hallowed ground Friday.
“We got to talk to them and everything afterwards, so it was really fascinating to meet them because they were both really heroes of the day,” Ed Root said.
Lorraine Bay is remembered by her family as a very positive, thoughtful and generous woman. She kept a box of greeting cards, organized by occasion and recipient, Emily Schenkel said. Two of Bay’s colleagues received cards postmarked Sept. 11, 2001, indicating that they were mailed that morning, according to Bay’s page on the National Park Service website for Flight 93.
“All the stories that she would tell about different flights, and she would tell them about sometimes where they had trouble or somebody was crabby or whatever, but all her stories kind of ended with a laugh or a smile -- she always made the best of it,” Root said. “And that was just her personality.
“I always kind of think in a way she’s just kind of looking at us, smiling, just kind of shaking her head and being very humble."
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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.
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