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NEWTOWN, Pa. (AP) He was quick with a joke and easy to talk
to. He was a top-notch pilot and a family man. And while most of
his counterparts toted golf bags on trips, Victor Saracini carried
a guitar.
Friends and family wept, prayed and shared stories during a
church service in this Philadelphia suburb Tuesday for the
51-year-old pilot of the second plane that crashed into the World
Trade Center.
Tears for Saracini, who worked for United Airlines, were echoed
across the nation in services for other pilots and flight
attendants killed during the Sept. 11 terrorist assaults on
America.
"It's been a numb week. Everyone's just stunned," said Ken
Roberts, 59, a United Airlines pilot from Brandywine, N.J., who
flew as co-pilot with Saracini several times. "When you think
about the grief here and multiply it by 5,000 it's kind of hard to
imagine."
In Greensboro, N.C., a flight attendant killed in the
Pennsylvania crash was remembered Tuesday as a heroine, a
charismatic woman and a loving mother.
Dozens of United Airlines pilots and flight attendants attended
the service for Sandy Bradshaw, 38. There was no casket. A table at
the front of the sanctuary of Westminster Presbyterian Church bore
a photograph of Bradshaw, a single white rose and an unlit candle.
In Washington, a standing-room-only crowd filled Saint Matthew's
Cathedral for a memorial Mass for David Charlebois, 39, the
co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the
Pentagon.
About 1,000 people, including several hundred American Airlines
pilots and flight attendants, packed the church Charlebois used to
attend to celebrate his life and comfort each other.
"He was a very sociable person who loved being surrounded by
people," said friend Tom Hayes. "The only time he lost patience
was when dealing with bigotry, ignorance or hatred."
At Saracini's service, an ocean of blue uniforms pilots from
United and other airlines filled about a quarter of the
1,200-seat St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Church.
"Airlines are part of an extended family. It's kind of like
when a policemen gets killed," said Mike Anderson, a 52-year-old
United pilot who attended the service.
Two montages of photographs stood at the front of the church on
either side of a pilot's uniform. A guitar leaned nearby. The
service consisted of prayers, words from friends and the memories
of family.
"The last words my dad said to me were, 'If you don't turn off
the DVD player, you owe me $10.' That, of course, was followed by,
'I love you and goodnight,"' Saracini's 13-year-old daughter
Kirsten told the congregants.
Meanwhile, about 350 people gathered in the sanctuary of the
historic stone Church of St. Patrick in downtown Washington for a
memorial Mass honoring law enforcement officers and firefighters
lost in New York and at the Pentagon.
"They laid down their lives so others might live," said
Monsignor Sal Criscuolo, chaplain for the District of Columbia
police. "We were shown tragedy last Tuesday, and we were shown so
many heroes."
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