On September 11 , 2001 , Todd Beamer , a passenger on the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 , tried to place a call through an air phone , but was routed to a customer service representative instead , who passed him on to supervisor Lisa Jefferson . Beamer reported that one passenger had been killed and that a flight attendant had told him that both the pilot and co-pilot had been forced from the cockpit and may have been injured . He was also on the phone when the plane made a quick and violent turn . Later , he told the operator that some of the other passengers were planning to attack the hijackers and regain control of the aircraft , after they learned about what happened at the World Trade Center and The Pentagon . According to Jefferson , Beamer 's last audible words were “ Are you ready ? Okay . Let 's roll . ” In a November 8 address from the World Congress Center in Atlanta , Georgia , President George W. Bush would invoke Beamer 's words : “ Some of our greatest moments have been acts of courage for which no one could have been prepared . But we have our marching orders . My fellow Americans , let 's roll ! ” He would use them again in the 2002 State of the Union address : “ For too long our culture has said , ‘ If it feels good , do it . ’ Now America is embracing a new ethic and a new creed : ‘ Let 's roll . ’”
United Airlines Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93
Let's roll