Finally revealed 10 yrs later - 9/11 fighter jocks Kamikazie mission

The 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on this nation is tomorrow.

 

Even a decade later, there are acts of heroism, guts and courage that the American people are still just finding out about.

 

And personally speaking, acts that bring a lump to my throat and cause me to at least try and keep from tearing up.

 

One of those cases is the story of Colonel Marc Sasseville and Lieutenant Heather “Lucky” Penney of the 121st Fighter Squadron of the Washington, D.C. Air National Guard.

 

Here are but a few snippets of an article from the Washington Post, and believe me, a few snippets is all it takes to get the gist of the story. 

 

The day's fourth hijacked airliner seemed to be hurtling toward Washington, D.C. Penney, one of the first two combat pilots in the air that morning, was told to stop it.

The one thing she didn't have as she roared into the sky was live ammunition. Or missiles. Or anything to throw at a hostile aircraft.

Except her own plane. So that was the plan.

Because the surprise attacks were unfolding, in that innocent age, faster than their warplanes could be armed, Penney and her commanding officer went up to fly their jets straight into a Boeing 757.

"We wouldn't be shooting it down. We'd be ramming the aircraft," Penney recalls of that day. "I would essentially be a kamikaze pilot."

The article continues with;

A third plane hit the Pentagon, and almost at once came word that a fourth plane, maybe more, could be on the way. The jets would be armed within an hour, but somebody had to fly now, weapons or no weapons.

"Lucky, you're coming with me," Col. Marc Sasseville barked.

They were gearing up in the preflight life-support area when Sasseville, struggling into his flight suit, met her eye.

"I'm going to go for the cockpit," Sasseville said.

She replied without hesitating.

"I'll take the tail."

It was a plan. And a pact.

"Let's go!"

She muttered a fighter pilot’s prayer — “God, don’t let me [expletive] up” — and followed Sasse­ville into the sky.

As we all know, the ramming of Flight 93 never took place due to the heroic actions of the passengers themselves. They knew they were going to die... but literally charged straight into the machine gun fire.

Heroes of World War II caliber are still amongst us.

Some are part-time fighter jocks with the various Air National Guards.

Some are the unassuming every day folks that you just might be sitting next to the next time you travel by air.

Some are like the very young 20-something Marine Buck Sergeant I know who was recently decorated for personal heroism under fire in Afghanistan. And he isn't an Infantryman either. He's a truck driver.

Personally speaking, I can't even imagine me having the guts to rush the cockpit of a hijacked 757; running into a burning World Trade Center; or flying a suicide mission.

I use to think when I retired from The Corps back in '97, that the entire nation would go straight into a steep and immediate decline without the leadership of a certain Master Sergeant Timothy Whiteman, USMC, one each; combat; expendable.

I was wrong.

These youngsters nowadays are better than I could ever hope to be.

Click here for an interesting video 9/11 tribute I made.

If my article and/or video make you cry, then I did my job.

May God bless America and our Allies in this War on Terrorism.