Among the heroes

Some of the Sept. 11 victims many Americans felt they got to know after their deaths:

Todd Beamer: The 32-year-old Oracle Corp. account manager from Cranbury, N.J., was believed to have helped lead a passenger attack on Flight 93 hijackers that prevented the jet from reaching its target, possibly the White House. Beamer spoke to a GTE operator on the plane’s phone. His final words – “Are you guys ready? Let’s roll!” – have become a rallying cry for the war against terrorism. Beamer and wife, Lisa, had two sons: David, now 4, and Drew, 2. His daughter, Morgan, was born in January. Beamer played baseball and basketball in college and loved coaching youth sports. President Bush, in an address to the nation last fall, praised Beamer as “an exceptional man.” Today, the Todd M. Beamer Foundation aims to help kids deal with trauma and learn how to make choices.

Mark Bingham: A 6-foot-5 rugby player and public relations firm founder, Bingham called his mother from Flight 93 and said he and other passengers were planning to fight back. Bingham, 31, was gay, and has become a symbol of inspiration to the nation’s gay community. The Mark Bingham Leadership Fund provides scholarships to students with interests in areas including rugby and the qualities of teamwork, leadership and heroism. Rugby teams in the San Francisco Bay area now vie for a cup named in Bingham’s honor.

The Rev. Mychal Judge: Judge’s death certificate listed him as victim No. 00001 – the first official fatality of the World Trade Center attack. A stretch of West 31st Street has been renamed in the New York fire department chaplain’s honor, and the Mychal Judge ferry runs around Manhattan and from New Jersey. A group of New York firefighters traveled to the Vatican to deliver Judge’s helmet to Pope John Paul II. And former Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen’s grandson, born three weeks after the attack, was named Mason Judge. Judge’s poster-sized portrait still stands inside the front door of Engine Co. 1/Ladder Co. 24, his local firehouse. The Advocate, a national gay magazine, put him on its cover as one of “our heroes.” Thousands filled the church for Judge’s funeral, and hundreds stood outside.