Notable Survivors
- Spencer Bailey – Subject of a famous photograph showing Lt. Colonel Dennis Nielsen carrying the three-year-old survivor to safety. His brother Brandon also survived the crash, but their mother, Francie, did not. A statue in part of Sioux City's riverfront development is based on the picture. The 1994 memorial commemorates the rescue efforts by the Sioux City community following the crash, and features contemplative areas and a tree-lined approach with plaques describing the accident. Bailey works as an editor and journalist in New York City.
- Jerry Schemmel – Radio announcer for the Colorado Rockies, Denver's Major League Baseball team, and a former radio announcer for the Denver Nuggets, Denver's National Basketball Association basketball team. He wrote a book about United Airlines Flight 232 titled Chosen to Live, and was credited with saving the life of a child in the crash.
- Michael R. Matz – Trainer of the 2006 Kentucky Derby favorite and winner Barbaro and the 2012 Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags. He was credited with saving the lives of four children in the crash, three from the same family. Matz competed for the US in equestrian show jumping in several Summer Olympics, winning silver in the team show jumping event at the 1996 games.
- Alfred C. Haynes – The captain of United Airlines flight 232. His actions, along with the actions of the flight crew, are partially credited for saving the lives of the survivors. He returned to flying after recovering from his injuries and would continue to fly DC-10s as captain until reaching mandatory retirement age in 1991. Several rescuers, crew members and passengers from flight 232 flew with Haynes on his final flight. Haynes became a public speaker soon after the accident, giving speeches about what happened aboard flight 232. He continues these to the present day, and credits this work with helping his own healing process.
- Dennis E. Fitch – A DC-10 pilot and instructor, he helped Captain Al Haynes fly United Airlines Flight 232. "For the 30 minutes I was up there," Fitch said, "I was the most alive I've ever been. That is the only way I can describe it to you." Fitch died at the age of 69 on May 7, 2012, after a battle with brain cancer.
- Pete Wernick – Prominent banjo player with the Hot Rize bluegrass band and instructor, he was on his way to a festival in the Albany, New York, area. Wernick walked away from the crash with his young son, and along with his wife, they took a later flight to go to the festival. He gave his personal account of the day's events in the song "A Day in '89 (You Never Know)". Wernick has yet to release a recording of the song, but has published the lyrics on his website.
- Jan Brown Lohr – United 232's Senior Flight Attendant. She was forced by regulation to ask parents with "lap children" aboard flight 232 to place their children on the cabin floor during the flight's final moments before impact. One of four children died from smoke inhalation. The deceased child's grief-stricken mother confronted Lohr at the crash scene. Since then, Lohr has tirelessly lobbied in Washington D.C. to promote the safety of children on all civilian aircraft and airlines, asking that federal regulations require all children to have a seat belt on every flight.
Read more about this topic: United Airlines Flight 232
Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or survivors:
“Every notable advance in technique or organization has to be paid for, and in most cases the debit is more or less equivalent to the credit. Except of course when it’s more than equivalent, as it has been with universal education, for example, or wireless, or these damned aeroplanes. In which case, of course, your progress is a step backwards and downwards.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“I believe that all the survivors are mad. One time or another their madness will explode. You cannot absorb that much madness and not be influenced by it. That is why the children of survivors are so tragic. I see them in school. They don’t know how to handle their parents. They see that their parents are traumatized: they scream and don’t react normally.”
—Elie Wiesel (b. 1928)