9/11, 23 years later: BFD dedicates bench in honor of flight attendant Betty Ann Ong

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – The gravity of the 9/11 terror attacks 23 years ago were felt all across the country, including here in Bakersfield, where first responders and ordinary citizens alike were touched, in some cases in very personal and profound ways.

A number of local 9/11 commemorations were held Wednesday, including several in the morning. The largest of those local events was at Bakersfield Fire Department station 15 on Buena Vista Road, where special recognition was bestowed on a hero of that day with a Bakersfield connection.

That series of future-defining terror attacks included one horrific incident in New York City and one in Washington, D.C., with a third prevented by heroic passengers aboard a hijacked commercial jet over rural western Pennsylvania.

But that day, 9/11 in the shorthand of national tragedy, is observed everywhere in the U.S. today. A salvaged girder from the World Trade Center’s north tower stands outside station 15 – a solemn memorial to the first responders who died 23 years ago.

About 300 people, including police and fire officials, as well as 70 children from Ronald Reagan School, gathered around that girder Wednesday morning to honor the courage and sacrifice of those lost on September 11th, 2001. Among the speakers  – Cathie Ong Hererra of Bakersfield, whose younger sister Betty Ann Ong, was a flight attendant aboard American Airlines Flight 11 – the first to strike the World Trade Center that morning.

Cathie and husband Ed Herrera helped dedicate the Betty Ong Bench outside Station 15. Betty Ong placed a call from Flight 11 that morning – America’s first warning of what was to come – an act of courage and professionalism for which she will always be remembered.

“We were very proud of her” when we learned what she’d done, said Cathie Ong Hererra. “I had heard in the morning – from a flight attendant who worked for American Airlines – that someone did call from the flight that Betty was on, and I said to my husband, ‘I’ll bet that that was Betty (who placed that first phone call)’ because she was just that way. And for sure it was her and we were just so proud of her.

“And I do feel very fortunate to know what the last few minutes of my sister’s life were like. There were a lot of heroes that morning that we will never get to know those stories.”

The Herreras have been ambassadors of a sort ever since – for Betty and all the flight attendants who died that day. Ed took a flight from Miami to Columbia this week and the flight attendants aboard that flight let their feelings be known.

“And one flight attendant came up to me and she pinned this – this is a flight attendant wings (badge) that she pinned on me – and she said, ‘This is for Betty.’”

Wednesday’s event was for us all – the firefighters, the first responders, the children who hadn’t even yet been thought of at the time.

Tim Ortiz, a BFD firefighter and a member of the agency’s bagpipe troupe, said it’s important to remember.

“We won’t forget, and this memorial that stands behind us is a testament that we will not forget,” he said. “And that’s what we’re here doing today.”

Some may wonder why the events of Sept. 11 still deserve our attention 23 years later. One look at the youngsters who came out for Wednesday’s commemoration should answer that question.

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