Air Line Pilots
Capt. Victor Saracini
Capt. Victor Saracini, 51, of Lower Makefield Township, Pa., traveled millions of miles piloting United Airlines passenger jets. Friends say that on many flights, Saracini made sure his cherished guitar was beside him in the cockpit.
On Sept. 11, Saracini, First Officer Michael Horrocks, seven members of the Flight Attendants and the 56 passengers on United Flight 175 from Boston to Los Angeles were hijacked by terrorists, who authorities suspect killed or incapacitated the flight crew before crashing the Boeing 767 into the south tower of the World Trade Center. Saracini and Horrocks are among four ALPA pilots and four members of the nonaffiliated Allied Pilots Association killed on duty that day.
Left behind are Saracini’s wife, Ellen; daughters Kirsten and Brielle; and many friends, including former flight school classmate Jack Schaccfman.
“Vic served, to those of us who knew him, as a symbol of where hard work and determination can lead,” says Schaccfman, describing Saracini as a man who worked his way up to Navy Aviation Officer Candidate School years after dropping out of high school.
Saracini ultimately became “a proud ALPA member,” says Frank Lyons, a friend and United pilot co-worker. Saracini’s big break as a pilot came in 1985 after he applied for a job at United. That year, when ALPA members went on strike, the airline notified 574 pilots on its applicants list they would get the striking pilots’ jobs if they crossed the picket lines. Saracini and 569 other pilots refused and became known as the “United 570.” He was hired by United after the strike.
On Aug. 29, the day Saracini celebrated his 51st birthday, 13-year-old Kirsten wrote her father a poem, “Years Gone By,” which ends with these lines:
“And for all the years that come, I know one thing will never change,
You will always be my daddy and I will always feel the same. I love you.”
Flight Attendants
CeeCee Lyles
A police officer in her hometown of Fort Pierce, Fla., before taking to the skies as a United flight attendant, CeeCee Lyles “liked dealing with people, and always wanted to travel,” recalls her husband, Lorne, a Fort Myers, Fla., patrol officer who also grew up in Fort Pierce. The couple met at work and married in May 2000, each bringing two sons to the new family. “We were going to renew our vows next year,” Lyles says. “When she was gone, it was like she was here, with our cell phones glued to our heads.”
It was that cell phone that CeeCee Lyles, 33, used to call her husband one last time while on United Flight 93, which was hijacked Sept. 11 and crashed in western Pennsylvania. At first Lyles thought she was joking when she told him the plane had been hijacked. Then he knew she wasn’t. She affirmed her love for him and the boys.
Dying on the job—as a police officer or flight attendant—was something the couple never discussed. But now Lyles feels he could stand his loss more easily if his wife had not died in a terrorist attack.
“I’d just like for the U.S. government to bring those who are responsible to justice,” says Lyles, who cannot bring himself to drive the family vehicles because of the memories they hold. “I have gone from planning our future to living day to day, and that is difficult.”
CeeCee Lyles was one of 26 flight attendants—13 United Airlines employees who were members of the Flight Attendants and 13 American Airlines workers who belonged to the nonaffiliated Association of Professional Flight Attendants—who died doing their jobs during the Sept. 11 attacks.
Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees
Gilbert Ruiz Sr., Abdoul Karim Traore and Juan Nieves Jr.
Soaring above Manhattan, the Windows on the World restaurant atop the World Trade Center offered patrons one of the world’s most spectacular views, while providing workers, many of whom came from other countries, a chance at a better life. As they cooked, set up tables and prepared the restaurant for a corporate breakfast Sept. 11, 43 members of Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Local 100 perished in the attack on the twin towers. Among them (from left): Gilbert Ruiz Sr., Abdoul Karim Traore and Juan Nieves Jr., all union shop stewards (pictured here at a Feb. 2000 rally in support of cafeteria workers organizing at Goldman Sachs).
The pony-tailed Ruiz, 45, was a passionate advocate for co-workers. Co-worker Asmat Ali says during contract negotiations, “Gilbert told the owner that some managers were treating the workers like slaves. This really affected the owner, who said he wanted to improve the relationship. Gilbert was not only outspoken, but effective.”
An Ivory Coast native, Traore was a banquet chef who impressed his co-workers with his humility. Ali remembers him as “a faithful Muslim” who took seriously the requirement to pray five times a day. He would find a quiet spot in one of the restaurant’s unused rooms, lower himself to his knees, press his forehead to the ground and acknowledge God’s oneness and centrality in the universe.
Nieves liked classic cars, says co-worker Ruben Tabares. The 56-year-old cook drove a 1968 Mustang and occasionally would give it a new coat of paint.
Nieves wasn’t handy under the hood, so Tabares offered to make easy repairs. “But we never got around to it,” says Tabares. “We always meant to get together and compare our cars, but we never did.”
