| Betty Ong | |
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Betty Ann Ong (Chinese: 鄧月薇; 5 February 1956 – 11 September 2001), born in San Francisco was an American Flight attendant on board American Airlines Flight 11 when it was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.[1]
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Biography
Ong was born to Harry Ong Senior and Yee-gum Oy. She grew up in San Francisco's Chinatown and graduated from George Washington High School. Her family owned a grocery store on Jackson Street. Ong was the youngest of her surviving siblings: sisters, Cathie Ong Herrera, Gloria Ong Woo and brother Harry Ong.
| "We’re supposed to go to LA and the cockpit’s not answering their phone. And there’s somebody stabbed in business class. And there’s ... we can’t breathe in business class. Somebody’s got mace or something. Our number 1 has been stabbed and our 5 has been stabbed. We can’t even get into the cockpit, the door won't open. We don’t know who’s up there. I think the guys are up there. They might have gone there - jammed their way up there, or something. Nobody can call the cockpit. We can’t even get inside." She also indicated that the 2 people in the cockpit with the pilot crew had been sitting on 2A and 2B. |
| - Betty Ong reporting what was happening on the plane. |
Betty started her career as a flight attendant in 1987. Her professionalism and hard work later earned her the position of a purser, a head flight attendant.
On September 11, Ong assigned herself to Flight 11, so she could return to Los Angeles and go on vacation to Hawaii with her sister. During the hijacking, Ong called in to American Airlines emergency, she identified herself and alerted the supervisor that the aircraft had been hijacked. Along with fellow flight attendant, Madeline Amy Sweeney, she relayed seat numbers of the hijackers. During her 23-minute call, she reported that none of the crew could open the cockpit door, two flight attendants and a passenger had been injured and one of the hijackers had sprayed irritant in the business class cabin.[2][3]
Legacy
On September 21, 2001, some 200 members of the Chinese American community in San Francisco, gathered in a small park to pay tribute to Ong. Mayor Willie Brown, who was present, gave a proclamation honoring the people who died in the tragedy and called September 21 "Betty Ong Day".[4]
Ong is also memorialized on "Gold Mountain", a mural dedicated to Chinese contributions to American history on Romolo Place in North Beach, a street where she used to skateboard and play as a child,[5] and a foundation named in her honor.
Betty Ong was played by Jean Yoon in the ABC miniseries The Path to 9/11.
References
- ^ "Betty Ong: Unsung Hero of Sept. 11". National Public Radio. September 10, 2004. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3910967. Retrieved 2009-12-06. "Betty Ong, a Chinese-American flight attendant for American Airlines, may have saved untold numbers of lives by telling emergency personnel on the ground what was happening aboard flight 11 on Sept. 11, 2001. Her call led to air traffic controllers landing every plane flying over U.S. airspace. ..."
- ^ "Betty Ong's Call from 9/11 Flight 11". 9/11 Commission. http://www.thememoryhole.org/911/911-ong-tape.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-06.
- ^ "9/11 commission hears flight attendant's phone call". CNN. January 27, 2004. http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/01/27/911.commis.call/. Retrieved 2009-12-06. "'The cockpit's not answering,' flight attendant Betty Ong said. 'Somebody's stabbed in business class, and, um, I think there's Mace that we can't breathe. I don't know; I think we are getting hijacked.' Ong, 45, was on board American Airlines Flight 11, the Boeing 767 en route from Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles, California, that was flown into the north tower of the World Trade Center."
- ^ "In Recognition of the Heroism of Betty Ong". United States House of Representatives. September 22, 2004. http://www.house.gov/pelosi/press/releases/Sept04/BettyOng092204.html. Retrieved 2009-12-06. "Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Betty Ong, a native daughter of San Francisco's Chinatown and a hero for our Nation on September 11, 2001. ..."
- ^ Jim Herron Zamora (2007-09-12). "S.F. mural depicting 9/11 flight attendant scarred by taggers". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/12/BAH0S2TVJ.DTL. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
External links
- Audio and Transcript of Betty Ong call to AA operations
- bettyong.org - the Betty Ong Foundation.
- FBI source transcript of Betty Ong phone call (pdf)
- http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/01/27/911.commis.call/
- http://www.asianweek.com/2001_09_28/news_betty_ong.html
- http://www.usatoday.com/news/sept11/2004-01-27-911-hearings_x.htm
- http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=3e34cc197d92d5417e98676ccb4a1af3
- http://www.september11victims.com/september11victims/VictimInfo.asp?ID=8
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