Grandad's Old Clock

Flight 935 (the 40)

(the 40)

I

Listen, my friends, to a story told,

Of heroes lost long ago—of everyday folk—O so bold;

Men and women like you and me,

Women and men and just plain folk—heroes all on Flight 93.

On 9/11, Two-thousand-one, a date which lives in infamy,

Our nation lost patriots brave, now heroes honored in history.

II

Forty Americans on a humdrum flight,

Newark to Frisco at the dawn’s early light,

Mothers, mentors—fathers and friends,

Everyday folk of every stripe; people on whom we depend.

Todd Beamer was one of the 40 who died,

Seven comrades who stood by his side:

Welsh, Nacke, and Captain Dahl,

Glick, Bingham, Burnett, and Sandra Bradshaw.5a

III

The 40 boarded the flight with innocent thought,

For they knew not the evil the terrorists sought,

Four terrorists hijacked the plane midair,

Justice and Freedom they could not bear,

For Liberty’s ring fell on deaf ear;

Four boiled with hatred and malice within,

And they sparked a war they would not win.

IV

On that murderous day in hell,

When aboard 93 the terrorists fell,

Four cowards to do Evil’s work,

Of death and destruction—a scene berserk,

Innocents they had in mind,

To murder and maim in twisted time,

Cowards they were who cowered low,

’Neath a flame of courage on 93.

V

A call to arms the 40 heard,

A call they heard in a blaze of light,

And they steeled themselves for a mortal fight;

Beamer summoned the call by his fearless command:

“Are you guys ready? Okay, let’s roll!”

Bingham echoed then a defiant shout:

“C’mon! Get ’em!! Get ’em!!!”—

A battle cry for all to hear;

Then roll they did, up the aisle they fought,

A heroic charge, striking mortal blows,

A defiant message to our terrorist foes.

VI

They charged the aisle, striking blow for blow,

A terrorist down and then brought low,

Hand to hand in the aisle they fought,

Strike on strike what chaos wrought!

Another down and the cockpit reached,

Blow for blow and the portal breached,

The final assault and victory!

Won by the heroes on 93.

VII

The airliner crashed that ominous day,

In the wooded hills near Shanksville, PA,

The Towers were hit and the Pentagon too,

Innocents murdered and friends we knew.

(Dark shadows of Pearl in ’41,

And the heroes then who fought and won.)

Other murderous plans our foe devised,

The U.S. Capitol the terrorists prized,

But because of the courage on 93,

The courage of folk like you and me,

Our nation’s Capital, our foe denied.

VIII

Forty heroes on a routine flight,

Their names now etched in history.

Husbands, wives, and everyday folk,

Rose up as one to battle the foe:

Beamer, Bingham, Burnett, and Dahl,

Nacke, Glick, Welsh, and Sandra Bradshaw;

Thirty-two others died aboard—heroes all on Flight 93.5a

IX

They struck the first blow at the terrorist foe in a global war declared,

When our souls were tried and our wills tested,

When our banner yet waved above rubble and smoke,

And heroes arose from everyday life,

When we stood together from prairie to sea,

When folks reached out to strangers as friends,

And together we stood—United as one!

X

In an earlier time and younger era,

When the fate of our nation hung in the balance and independence declared,

Patriots past of common folk rose up and kindled the flame:

Revere, Dawes, and Prescott5—their midnight rides revered,

Warned the folk of the countryside of the British march so near—

For on that eve—an echoed alarm—but not the alarm of fear.

Margaret Corbin—with shattered jaw and wounded breast,

Her canon thundered at the Hessian crest,

No braver patriot she, as our nation fought for Liberty.

And at the Old North Bridge stood farmers bold,

“And fired the shot heard ’round the world.”

Thomas Paine wrote The Crisis and pled our Cause in Common Sense,

Those were the times that tried men’s souls—for Freedom’s Fight was intense.

Betsy Ross stitched—the Red and White and starry Blue,

The Stars and Stripes, forever held, high and true.

XI

So heed the lessons of history’s past,

From deeds of valor done long ago,

By women and men like you and me,

By men and women like you and me,

Ordinary folk of every stripe,

But extraordinary heroes in everyday life,

Gave of themselves with nothing sought,

Heroes now in history’s light.

XII

Never forget the heroes on 93!

When Beamer gave his fearless command,

A command of defiance and not of fear,

In the hallow’d tradition of Prescott, Dawes, and Revere;

Through all our history, dark storms have rolled,

But our people have met the challenge that tolled.

(Remember the heroes of ’44—

Allies who fought on Normandy’s shore?)

XIII

So now is the day to rise as one,

Now is the time to unite as before,

Now is the hour to obey the command:

“Are you guys ready? Okay, let’s roll!”

Michael Breuleux

September 2016