9/11: 25 Years of Civilian Bravery in Massachusetts
This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The first flights to be hijacked, both bound for Los Angeles, took off from Boston Logan International Airport early that morning: American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175.
The terrorists deliberately crashed Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m., and 17 minutes later Flight 175 smashed into the South Tower in New York City. At least 206 people with ties to Massachusetts were killed in the September 11th terrorist attacks.
Every year, the State of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts 9/11 Fund honors civilians from throughout Massachusetts with the Madeline “Amy” Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery in saving or defending the lives of others. The Massachusetts 9/11 Fund blog today begins a weekly series in which it will profile the Sweeney Award recipients for the past quarter century, leading up to the announcement of the 2026 Sweeney Award Honoree(s) at the 25th Anniversary Commemoration on September 11th.
Amy Sweeney, Betty Ong, and John A. Ogonowski were the first recipients of the Madeline “Amy” Sweeney Award for Civilian Heroism in 2002.
Sweeney, an Acton resident, was an American Airlines flight attendant for 14 years. On September 11, 2001, she was killed aboard American Airlines Flight 11, the first aircraft hijacked by terrorists and flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
On that fateful day, Amy filled in for a sick colleague on the Boeing 767-200ER scheduled for transcontinental service from Boston Logan International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport, carrying 92 passengers and crew.
Once in the air, the plane was overtaken by hijackers. Soon after, Amy called American Airlines Flight Service at Logan Airport. She reached her colleague and friend, service manager Michael Woodward, and calmly conveyed critical information about the hijackers, including their seat numbers, that later helped investigators to determine their identities. She also told Woodward that one of the hijackers had shown her a device with red and yellow wires that appeared to be a bomb.
Shortly after the hijacking, Betty Ong, an Andover resident, notified the American Airlines ground crew of the hijacking. She stayed on the radiophone for 23 minutes to relay vital information that led to the closing of airspace across the country by the FAA, a first in United States history.
John Ogonowski, the Captain of Flight 11, is believed to have been killed by the hijackers prior to the crash into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The Vietnam War-era Air Force veteran and Dracut resident was a leading advocate on behalf of farming in Massachusetts, particularly in aiding immigrant farmers from Cambodia, whom he assisted as part of the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project.
Next Week: Pair rescue injured woman trapped under burning car in Freetown woods