Retired flight attendant paying tribute to 9/11 flight crews by pushing beverage cart from Dulles to Pentagon

A retired flight attendant who will be pushing a beverage cart from Dulles Airport to the Pentagon this week to honor the victims of 9/11 told Fox News Digital says he wants to bring “national attention” to the flight crews who died that day.

“I knew every one of the crew members on UA175,” Paul Veneto told Fox News Digital. Veneto worked as a flight attendant on September 11, 2001, and said he would have been on the flight from Boston to Los Angeles that was flown into the World Trade Center if not for a schedule change.

Veneto will be pushing a beverage cart from Dulles Airport in Virginia to the Pentagon beginning Sept. 8 as a solemn reminder of the flight attendants who lost their lives on 9/11. 

“I needed to bring national recognition to the flight crews because of what they did that day,” Veneto said. “I was on a flight when I got the idea to do the push. I was looking at a pushcart and that’s when I realized, this is what I was going to do.”

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Veneto says it will take him three days to complete the trip which is less than the 20 days it took him to push a beverage cart from Boston to Ground Zero in New York City last year. 

“I’m 63 years old!” Veneto exclaimed. “But I said I’d do whatever I had to do. Last year, I went over an overpass and had to put the beverage cart on my back and carry it up stairs. I’ll swim with it if I have to.”

Veneto says his tributes, known as Paulie’s Push, have garnered support from all across the world in the form of donations and well wishes. 

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“It’s amazing how this has taken off and I get emails from all over the world thanking me,” Veneto said. “I had a guy donate a $50,000 RV just because he was grateful for what I was doing. It got bigger than I expected. To have people come up to you that you’ve never met before to tell you their stories, like one guy that came up to me and said that he was in a helicopter watching people jump out of the towers.”

Veneto recounted to Fox News Digital what he experienced on September 11, 2001, and said his whole life changed on that fateful day.

“When 9/11 happened, I went into shock,” Veneto said. “I called the airport but it was complete chaos. I knew at that point my life changed. I could feel it in every fiber of my body. I knew everything was going to change. And sure enough it did. There was so much anger.”

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Veneto explained to Fox News Digital that its important remember the role flight attendants play and the heroics they displayed on 9/11. 

“You have to recognize the flight attendants for their heroics,” Veneto said. “Because what they did at that time, is mind boggling to think about. They were never trained in dealing with terrorism. So when I think about what they were going through on the plane that morning, and how they were able to even make a phone call and tell us what was going on, it is crazy to me.”

Veneto continued, “At some point up there they knew they were not going home. We should recognize these guys, and I tried to make people aware but it didn’t seem to work until I started the push last year. I just wanted to bring peace of mind for these crewmembers and their families.”

Veneto says that the people he worked with were what he loved most about his job and hopes that pushing the beverage cart will give flight attendants the recognition they deserve. 

“It was a day that none of us will ever, ever forget,” Veneto said.