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Congressman Wants To Honor Flight 93 Passengers

POSTED: 11:19 pm EDT April 18, 2006

WASHINGTON -- A Pennsylvania congressman is asking lawmakers to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the passengers and crew members who died on United Flight 93.

Republican Bill Shuster said their actions on Sept. 11, 2001, "preserved the American symbols of democracy."

The cockpit recordings played during Zacarias Moussaoui's death penalty trial last week shed new light on the struggle between passengers and hijackers that ended when the flight went down in a Pennsylvania field.

Investigators believe the hijackers intended to fly the jetliner into the U.S. Capitol or the White House.

The honor would put the 33 passengers and seven crew members in the company of civil rights activist Rosa Parks and Pope John Paul II as recipients of Congress' highest award.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press