Thomas Burnett Jr., a Pepperdine alumnus, was on Flight 93 that crashed in a field on Sept. 11. Many believe he and other passengers of the hijacked plane foiled the terrorists’ plans to crash the plane into a U.S. landmark, possibly the White House.
By Cristina Forde/Special to The Malibu Times
Thomas Burnett Jr., a 1995 graduate of Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business and Management, was one of the heroes of United Flight 93, in which the passengers fought the hijackers for control of the aircraft on Sept. 11.
The passengers wrested control of the aircraft, preventing another hit on a notable target-most believe the hijackers’ destination was the White House-but all aboard lost their lives when Flight 93 plunged into a field in Pennsylvania.
Pepperdine University will honor alumnus Burnett and other victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by ringing a bell during a special “We Remember” service at exactly one year-to the minute-after the impacts in New York, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.
Burnett had been on his way home to San Ramon, outside San Francisco, when he had boarded the fatal morning flight from Newark, New Jersey on Sept. 11.
Burnett had called his wife, Deena, from a cell phone while he was on Flight 93. She was serving breakfast to their three daughters, now 6-year-old twins Halley and Madison, and 4-year-old Anna Claire. Burnett learned of the attacks in New York and the Pentagon from Deena and in later phone calls he told her that he and several co-passengers were plotting to thwart the hijackers’ plans.
His fourth call to her was the last time husband and wife spoke to each other, when he told Deena that a group of passengers was definitely going to try and do something.
Two days later, Deena Burnett was quoted in the L.A. Times. “We may never know how many people helped him or what they did,” she said. “But I know without a doubt that plane was bound for some landmark and they saved many, many more lives than were lost on that plane.”
The Burnetts had been married nine years when he was killed.
Burnett, who was 38, was a senior vice president and chief operating officer of Thoratec Corp., a medical device company headquartered in Pleasanton, Calif.
“He was a man of heartfelt compassion, deep convictions, love and had a keen sense of right and wrong,” Deena Burnett said. “And he believed that morals and values were not debatable.”
The service, to be held at University Church of Christ on campus, begins at 5:30 a.m. The public is welcome. The service is the beginning of Pepperdine’s “Day of Remembrance.”
Later, following the 10 a.m. Pepperdine Founder’s Day Convocation, which marks the beginning of the academic year and coincidentally falls on Sept. 11, participants will walk silently from Firestone Fieldhouse to Alumni Park to formally dedicate a memorial Heroes Garden scheduled to be built on a promontory at the Drescher Campus. The Drescher Campus is currently under construction higher up the hill. Heroes Garden, a place to reflect and meditate, will feature benches, a flagpole, a plaque, inspirational inscriptions and perhaps a pond.
Burnett’s widow, Deena, who will be at a memorial at the Flight 93 crash site in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, will appear at the Pepperdine Convocation by way of videotape done at the campus.