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CLEAR Temp: 58 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Tuesday, September 10, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Cyberchef E The People Golf Job Network Headbone Zone Wellness Connection Movie Times Newspaper in Education Oregon CarZone Outdoor Journal Personals Prime Times Real Estate Tempo A & E TV Times W3 Magazine CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Destinations Automotive Communities Employment Entertainment Publications Real Estate Recreation Shopping Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Jobs @ Mail Tribune Email Story to a Friend September 8, 2002 Jerry and Bea Guadagno of Ewing, N.J., look through a book of items that were recovered from United Flight 93 that crashed outside Shanksville, Pa. Their only son, Rich Guadagno, a Fish and Wildlife Service agent from Eureka, Calif., died in the crash. Click the photo to see a larger (37k) version. Photo by Frank Jacobs III Related stories: � A chance connection brings proof of heroism � Service around the valley commemorate Sept. 11 ‘Time won’t heal this’ A Eureka man has been hailed as one of the heroes of Flight 93, but that doesn’t help his father cope with the loss By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Airplanes crisscross the sky over Jerry Guadagno’s Ewing, N.J., home several times a day, and each one triggers a replay of how the Sept. 11 national tragedy became a Guadagno family one as well. He pictures his only son, federal wildlife cop Rich Guadagno, stretched across two seats on United Flight 93, the longest leg of his trip back home to Eureka, Calif., from his grandmother’s 100th-birthday party in Trenton. "In this morning’s scenario, Rich looks over and sees this guy with a red bandanna walking by," Jerry Guadagno says. "And he thinks to himself, ‘What’s that idiot doing?’ " Rich Guadagno The idiot is one of four hijackers who commandeered Flight 93 in an attempt to crash it into the White House or the Capitol Building, but were foiled when a small group of passengers fought back. Friends, family and at least some physical evidence suggest that the 38-year-old Guadagno, a no-nonsense guy who once chided his mother for picking a wildflower, was one of those passengers who died while forcing the plane to crash in a Pennsylvania field. History already is remembering Guadagno as a hero. The sound of every jet engine forces Jerry Guadagno into memories he cannot forget. "Oh, how many times have I played that scenario over and over in my mind," he says. "I hear the planes, and I just can’t get away from it." The 78-year-old Guadagno says he will never get away from the Sept. 11 tragedy that killed his son, 32 other passengers, four hijackers and seven crew members when the plane slammed into a field near Shanksville, Pa. Rich Guadagno, a renaissance man who managed a wildlife refuge near Eureka and served as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent, was the closest known Sept. 11 victim to Southern Oregon. While the Rogue Valley and the rest of America slowly come to grips with the events, Jerry Guadagno says his feelings of loss churn as strongly now as when he watched television images Sept. 11 after he learned that terrorists killed his son. "Hell no, it hasn’t gotten easier," he says. "It’s gotten worse." Worse as Sept. 11 inches closer. Worse every time he sees an anniversary television promo. Worse every time an airplane hums overhead. "Time won’t heal this," Guadagno says. "There’s no such thing as closure. Anybody who says there is doesn’t know what they’re talking about." America has been talking a lot about Rich Guadagno and what transpired on board the Boeing 757 that four hijackers tried to turn into a weapon of terror. The plane was bound for San Francisco from Newark that same Tuesday morning when two other hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and a third struck the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. Federal investigators believe hijackers meant to crash Guadagno’s plane into either the White House or the Capitol Building. Cellular telephone calls from those on board as well as voice recordings and evidence at the crash scene led investigators to conclude that some male passengers stormed the cockpit and fought with the hijackers, and that this counterattack caused the crash. Over the subsequent year, Guadagno has surfaced as one of the most likely of counterattackers. He’s been anointed a hero by Congress, earned the Department of the Interior’s highest honor, and has been the focal point of news accounts and honorariums involving Sept. 11 victims worldwide. "People very involved in researching Flight 93 tell me that, 100 years from now, history will associate Rich as a hero of Sept. 11 like we remember Davy Crockett as a hero of the Alamo," says Dave Paullin, Guadagno’s refuge supervisor in Sacramento. Jerry Guadagno says "there’s no question" his son was one of the passengers who investigators believe possibly used a food cart to ram their way into the cockpit. "Rich would never stand by and let anything happen that he didn’t think was right," he says. But that belief carries little solace. "The finality of losing a tremendous guy like this is enormous," he says. The family has tried everything. At first, they huddled in seclusion. Then they slowly began opening to extended family and friends in their neighborhood. Occasionally, Jerry Guadagno says, things would feel a bit better. But the planes in and out of nearby Trenton-Mercer Airport always drag him back down. Jerry and his 77-year-old wife, Bea, thought they could get some of the events behind them when they met with the families of other Flight 93 victims to hear the cockpit’s audiotapes salvaged from the crash. "I wasn’t going there to hear screaming or try to figure out exactly what happened," Jerry Guadagno says. "I just thought I might hear his voice." All he heard was screaming, the hijackers talking in Arabic, and more screaming. "There weren’t any voices, really, except the hijackers," he says. In March, the FBI sent the Guadagnos a few remains identified as Rich. United Airlines sent a fancy coffin. The Guadagnos entombed the remains at the family plot. But that hasn’t helped, either. "There’s just emptiness when you go there," he says. Rich Guadagno’s parents and lone sister, Lori, flew to Eureka in April for the dedication of a new wildlife refuge office and visitors center in Guadagno’s name. "We were just too overwhelmed," Jerry Guadagno says. Wednesday will bring the family’s next chance for their grief to turn the corner. The Guadagnos will be at the Shanksville crash site, where federal officials want to create a national monument to pay tribute to Rich Guadagno and the other heroes of Flight 93. "Maybe Shanksville will be the place that we can call his burial place," Jerry Guadagno says. "Maybe going to Shanksville will help. "But no matter what, there always will be something missing, and that’s Rich." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy web master feedback A D V E R T I S E R S