Passenger regarded as a hero
Friends convinced
Joe Driscoll would
have fought hijackers
By kathy baratta
Staff Writer

Joe Driscoll

The line snaked out the door of a funeral home in Freehold and around the parking lot and continued to grow as Sunday afternoon wore on. It was a tribute befitting a national hero, and it gave comfort to the family of the man the people had come to honor.

Patrick Joseph Driscoll, 70, or Joe as friends called him, was a passenger on United Airlines flight 93, the hijacked airliner that crashed into a suburban field some 80 miles south of Pittsburgh on the morning of Sept. 11 when terrorists launched an attack on America.

Two planes hijacked out of Boston crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and a plane hijacked out of Washington, D.C., slammed into the Penta-gon.

Investigators believe the plane that was hijacked out of Newark was headed for a target in Washington, D.C., possibly the White House or the Capitol. Investigators have said the passengers on that plane — apparently aware of the fact that the World Trade Center had been attacked — may have fought back against the hijackers and prevented the plane from hitting its intended target.

All of the passengers and crew on the plane died in the crash in western Pennsylvania.

At memorial services for Driscoll on Sunday, every man and woman in attendance indicated they believe Driscoll either led that charge or was directly involved in a passenger assault on the hijackers. You will never convince one of them otherwise, nor would you try to when you hear their stories of a man who was loved and revered by those he left behind.

Driscoll, a retired engineer, a Korean War veteran who served in the U.S. Navy, was a tough kid raised on the mean streets of New York who, friends and family said, would never have gone down without a fight. Former Manalapan Mayor Jack McKenna said, "If there was a fight on that plane, you can bet your last dollar that Joe was not only in on it, he led it."

Driscoll was remembered by many at the memorial service as inspirational long Sept. 11.

A consummate family man, Driscoll was active in his church, Our Lady of Mercy, Englishtown, where he was a daily communicant. Having just recently moved to Point Pleasant from Manalapan, he remained active in the Yorktowne Club and other volunteer capacities in the town he had called home since 1966.

Joe Walsh, 44, of South Belmar, grew up in Manalapan, as did Guy Papa, 42, who recently returned to his hometown. Both men, who are Catholic, grew up with Driscoll’s sons. They came to the memorial service not only for the sake of those friendships, but to honor the man who had been their catechism instructor.

Papa recalled how Driscoll, in order to get the undivided attention of a room full of rowdy boys, would start the day’s instruction with a Navy tale.

"Remember, Joe, how once he saw he had us with some sea story, he would right away go, ‘OK, now that I have your attention,’ and then the lesson would begin?" Papa asked Walsh, a smile lighting both their faces.

"Look around at this turnout. These are three generations who have come to honor a man who touched all of them," Walsh said.

Regarding the fight that is believed to have taken place on board flight 93 between the hijackers and the passengers, Walsh opined, "There isn’t a man here who doesn’t believe that Mr. Driscoll wasn’t leading the charge."

Lester Brown, a former Manalapan resident who now resides in Florida, is a close friend of Driscoll’s son, Patrick. He drove up from Florida the minute he heard the news "because Mr. Driscoll meant that much to me, and everyone who knew him."

"There was no way I wasn’t going to be here to honor his memory," said Brown, who remembered his friend’s father as "a tough man, an intelligent man, strong mentally and physically."

Brown did not hesitate to state his belief that Driscoll died as a hero in service to his country. Recalling the news reports that stated the hijackers had stabbed flight attendants in order to draw the pilots out of the cockpit, Brown said, "There is no way Mr. Driscoll sat in his seat while people were stabbed or hurt. If you knew him, you know he was one of the first ones out of his seat."

Mourner Bill Nolan proudly told a reporter how his son, Mark, who was one of the first rescue workers at ground zero, met President George W. Bush when the commander-in-chief visited the World Trade Center site to see the wreckage firsthand and to thank the rescue workers.

Bill Nolan said his son told the president that his uncle, Driscoll, was one of the men on flight 93. Nolan, choking back obvious emotion, said the president told his son, "Then your uncle saved my wife’s life." Bush then signed a New York Police Department cap for Nolan to present to the Driscoll family. The cap was proudly on display at the memorial.

Driscoll’s wife, Maureen, sons Stephen, 41, of Jackson, Patrick, 40, Christopher, 32, and daughter, Pamela Gould, 35, have been able to draw some comfort from the outpouring of love and profound respect for their father. They called the outpouring of love and emotion a "real tribute to his memory."

Pamela observed that in a way, her family was one of the lucky ones.

"We have closure. There are so many families who don’t know where or how their loved ones are," she said, adding that she could draw comfort from believing that her father and other passengers on the plane had saved a lot of lives.

Patrick Driscoll recalled how his father loved to affectionately tease his mother. He recalled how, on the morning of Sept. 11, Joe had Maureen drive him to Newark Airport where he was joining a friend for a flight to Yosemite National Park in California for an annual hiking adventure.

Maureen, who likes to sleep late, according to her son, was up before dawn that day so she could drive her husband to the airport.

Pat said that during the ride to Newark his father, pointing to the sunrise over Manhattan, nudged his wife and said, "Look at that, Mo, that’s something you won’t see again," referring to the beauty of the sunrise and the fact that his wife had altered her sleeping routine in order to be up early for the drive to the airport.

Pat said the statement, "You won’t see that again," had nothing to do with any premonition his father may have had about his flight. He said that was the inference when his father’s words, and not their context, were reported in another newspaper.

Gazing at a collage of photographs of her husband on display at the memorial service, Maureen Driscoll remarked about her husband of 42 years, "We had many wonderful years together; we were so in love."