HOLLISTON, Massachusetts – A retired flight attendant is walking from Boston to New York City to pay more tribute to the men and women of the four flight crews who lost their lives on Sept. 11.
What you need to know
- Retired flight attendant Paul “Paulie” Veneto pushes an airline beverage cart from Boston to New York to further honor the four flight crew who lost their lives on September 11.
- His journey, known as “Paulie’s Push,” attracted national attention during his first trip in 2021.
- Veneto frequently worked on United Flight 175, which was hijacked on September 11 and flown into the World Trade Center.
- He also made drinks cart rides to the Pentagon and the National Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Paul “Paulie” Veneto, 64, made the trip for the first time in 2021, traveling more than 200 miles while pushing an airline beverage cart. “Paulie’s Push,” as the effort was dubbed, led to viral TikTok and Instagram posts, as well as an appearance on TODAY.
“The idea first came to me a year after 9/11, I was thinking about selling a beverage cart,” Veneto said. “I knew I had to do something that would get national attention. I had no idea what was coming, how could I do that?”
Veneto was always concerned that the legacy of the four crews of American Airlines Flight 11, American Airlines Flight 77, United Flight 93 and United Flight 175 would be forgotten. Veneto himself frequently worked on Flight 175, including on the night of September 10, 2001.
“The people I knew, the crew on that plane, I liked every one of them when I worked there,” Veneto said. “They were professionals, they really were. I wouldn’t want to be with anyone else if I was in those conditions, and I’m not just saying that, that’s the truth.”
He speaks especially often about his colleague Amy Jarret, a younger flight attendant who was working on United Flight 175 when a hijacker flew the plane into the World Trade Center.
“I worked with her a lot in the back of the plane,” Veneto said. “She was only 28 years old, but I knew the whole time I was working with her that everything was going to be OK up there. I could always count on her.”
On top of Veneto’s drinks cart are the names and photos of Jarret and over a dozen other crew members who lost their lives on September 11th.
He plans to arrive at Ground Zero in Manhattan on September 11 of this year in memory of American Airlines Flight 11.
His first trip in 2021 was similar, followed in 2022 by a trip from Dulles International Airport to the Pentagon and last year by a trip from Newark Liberty International Airport to the National Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Originally he only planned to do a “Paulie’s Push,” but Veneto shows no signs of stopping.
“Many of us who were close to the crews stationed in the cities from which these planes were withdrawn have been hit hard,” Veneto said. “Of course it has. That’s why I’m doing it, these people are American heroes. They deserve to be recognized by all of us.”
For more information on Paulie’s Push or to see where he is on the course, visit the event’s official website.
