BOSTON (WPRI) — Paul Veneto is in the middle of his fourth trek from Boston to New York City.
The retired flight attendant is walking more than 200 miles in memory of the flight crews who died in the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001.
He will be walking for the next 24 days with plans to reach ground zero by the 23rd anniversary.
On Sept. 10, 2011, Veneto worked on United Airlines’ evening flight from Chicago O’Hare to Boston Logan Airport.
That same plane was dispatched the next morning as United Flight 175 and became the plane that took down the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
While he is honoring the victims and their families, he is also walking to teach about the horrors of that day and what the flight crews onboard did.
“I knew when those buildings came down, the enormity of that scene, that people were going to forget what happened at the beginning of that day, which was these crew members were fighting those terrorists on those airplanes. They left families behind,” Veneto said.
“That’s the only reason I do it, is to make sure these crew members’ families hear it from all of us that we do recognize the heroics of their loved ones that stood up against terrorism that day,” he continued.
You can follow his journey online to see where he is in real time.