Remembering 9/11 Victims From Prince George's 20 Years Later

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — Anyone older than 25 in Prince George's County likely remembers where they were on 9/11.

Americans felt a collective trauma as first one and then another plane flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. As the truth dawned on people watching from their TVs that America was under attack, another plane took aim at the Pentagon. A fourth was brought down in a field in Pennsylvania in a final act of heroism by passengers who realized their flight had been hijacked.

Nearly 3,000 Americans, including at least 48 from Maryland, were killed in the suicide attacks carried out by 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaida.

On the 20th anniversary of the attacks, our county remembers and mourns these 19 Prince Georgians who died:

• Carrie R. Blagburn, 48, of Temple Hills (Pentagon)
• Angelene C. Carter, 51, of Forestville (Pentagon)
• Julian T. Cooper, 39, of Springdale (Pentagon)
• Ada M. Davis, 57, of Camp Springs (Pentagon)
• James Daniel Debeuneure, 58, of Upper Marlboro (AA Flight 77)
• Charles S. Falkenberg, 45, of University Park (AA Flight 77)
• Dana Falkenberg, 3, of University Park (AA Flight 77)
• Zoe Falkenberg, 8, of University Park (AA Flight 77)
• Sandra N. Foster, 41, of Clinton (Pentagon)
• Sheila M.S. Hein, 51, of University Park (Pentagon)
• Jimmie Ira Holley, 54, of Lanham (Pentagon)
• Samantha Lightbourn-Allen, 36, of Hillside (Pentagon)
• Gerard (Jerry) P. Moran, 39, of Upper Marlboro (Pentagon)
• Odessa V. Morris, 54, of Upper Marlboro (Pentagon)
• Cecelia E. Richard, 41, of Fort Washington (Pentagon)
• Robert E. Russell, 52, of Oxon Hill (Pentagon)
• Antoinette Sherman, 35, of Forest Heights (Pentagon)
• Hilda E. Taylor, 62, of Forestville (AA Flight 77)
• Leslie A. Whittington, 45, of University Park (AA Flight 77)

CNN wrote that Laurel resident Max Beilke also died in the attacks. Laurel straddles several counties, however, and the news outlet did not mention which one Beilke was from.

The 69-year-old was a retired master sergeant in the Army, Legacy.com explained. The obituary added that he "was the last American combat soldier to leave Vietnam in 1973."

"We could see him leaving [Vietnam] on television," Beilke's sister, Lucille Johnson said in the obituary. "We all just beamed because we knew he'd soon be home safely."

Johnson mentioned that her brother, who was drafted during the Korean War, always had a fishing rod in hand. Beilke eventually worked on veterans issues as a Pentagon civil employee.

All 9/11 victims will be remembered at memorial services planned across the nation on Sept. 11 to mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks.

At the 9/11 memorial in Lower Manhattan, New York — an area known for years after the attacks as “Ground Zero” — the names of the fallen will be read aloud.

“Throughout the ceremony, we will observe six moments of silence, acknowledging when each of the World Trade Center towers was struck and fell and the times corresponding to the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93,” the 9/11 Memorial & Museum wrote on its website.

The annual “Tribute of Light,” which are lights pointed to the sky in the shape of the Twin Towers, will go on that night.

Most 9/11 victims were from either New York or New Jersey, where many who lived across the Hudson River from the World Trade Center recall the horror of watching the twin towers collapse from their homes in Hoboken and Jersey City.

More than 2,700 people died at the World Trade Center alone on 9/11, including the passengers of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175. Another 184 were killed when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into The Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and 44 died on United Airlines Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

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