The stories of September 11, 2001 are amazing, heart wrenching and inspirational, each more heart breaking than the next. This story is of three teachers aboard Flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon killing all 64 aboard and 125 on the ground.
Sarah Clark, James Debeuneure, and Hilda Taylor were teachers from Washington D.C. who were selected by the National Geographic Society to participate in a field trip to California. In this field trip, students would spend their time at Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, to work as marine biologists to study oceanic life. This field trip allowed urban elementary students access to a world beyond Washington D.C.
The trip to California never happened due to the plane carrying the students and three teachers being hijacked by five extremists. Although all 184 victims of Flight 77 are memorialized in the Pentagon Memorial adjacent to the Pentagon, these teachers are now added to the Memorial to Fallen Educators for their loss of life in the line of duty.