This is one of the last photographs of a National Geographic educational group taken at Washington Dulles International Airport on the morning of September 11, 2001, shortly before they boarded American Airlines Flight 77.
The group was heading to California for a National Geographic-sponsored ecology/science trip focused on the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary near Santa Barbara (sometimes described as studying the ocean or attending a related conference). It was a special opportunity for selected Washington, D.C., public-school students.
The people in the photo are generally identified left to right as: Teacher James D. Debeuneure (Ketcham Elementary), student Rodney Dickens (11), student Bernard C. Brown II (11), teacher Hilda E. Taylor (Leckie Elementary), student Asia S. Cottom (11), National Geographic Society employee J. Joseph “Joe” Ferguson, and National Geographic Society employee Ann C. Judge.
A National Geographic employee took the group photo during the boarding process at the gate. It captured the last known images of these victims (and, in the background of some versions, a figure some have noted as resembling one of the hijackers, though this is not definitively confirmed).
Flight 77 (a Boeing 757 from Dulles to Los Angeles) was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists and deliberately crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. Everyone on board (58 passengers including the five hijackers and 6 crew) and 125 people in the building died. The three 11-year-old students (for many of whom it was their first plane ride), their teacher chaperones, and the two National Geographic staff members were among the victims.
National Geographic and others continue to remember them annually. The students had been chosen for their academic promise and character; the adults were dedicated educators and staff supporting the educational mission. The photo remains a poignant record of ordinary people on an exciting trip that ended in tragedy.
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