McCain Honors Fallen UC Alumnus at Memorial

He wasn't just a man who most likely fought against terrorist hijackers, perhaps saving thousands of Americans lives.

He was also a rugby player and a fraternity member, a passionate Cal football fan who tackled the Stanford Tree at a Big Game and a guy who once snuck into Wheeler Hall to catch a sold-out movie.

And for his friends and family and even a prominent U.S. senator, he will always be remembered as an American hero.

Mark Bingham, 31, a UC Berkeley alumnus who may have helped fight off terrorist hijackers on United Airlines Flight 93, was honored at a memorial service at UC Berkeley Saturday.

About 500 mourners, including Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, gathered in Wheeler Auditorium to honor a man who may have played a role in preventing San Francisco-bound Flight 93 from reaching its intended target, possibly the U.S. Capitol building.

McCain said he was working at the Capitol along with hundreds of other lawmakers at the time of the attacks, and that Bingham quite possibly saved his life.

"I may very well owe my life to Mark," McCain said.

Telephone calls from the ill-fated flight and evidence from the cockpit voice recorder indicate that the hijackers were thwarted by the passengers aboard. The plane crashed in Pennsylvania, killing all aboard.

McCain said the actions taken by Bingham and others on the flight were of the highest level of patriotism.

"I love my country and take pride in serving her," McCain said. "But I cannot say that I love her more or as well as Mark Bingham did."

McCain, who Bingham admired and met at a campaign rally, was among the friends, family and others, who paid tribute to Bingham during the 90-minute service.

"I did not know Mark," said UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl. "But from all that I've learned of him in the past seven days, it's fitting that we're gathered here on this campus to remember him."

Bingham's uncle, Vaughn Hoglan, said Bingham was a selfless individual who put the welfare of others ahead of his own.

"The experts say that the word 'I' is the most commonly used word in the English language," Hoglan said. "Yet I never heard Mark start a conversation with that word."

Todd Sarner, a longtime friend of Bingham's from Los Gatos High School and UC Berkeley, said Bingham displayed a lot of courage when he told friends he was gay.

"When he started to come out to people, he couldn't help but challenge people's old prejudices and ideas," Sarner said. "Mark wasn't anybody's stereotype."

While the two men attended UC Berkeley, Sarner and Bingham snuck into a late-night movie at Wheeler Hall, Sarner said.

"They said we couldn't come in, but Mark did not accept that, and we-I feel funny saying this in front of the chancellor-we crawled in a back window. Of course, Mark was the first to go," he said as the auditorium erupted in laughter.

Bingham's mother, Alice Hoglan, who spoke to him on a cell phone while he was on the hijacked airliner, said she hoped Bingham's legacy would live on. "Mark is now a part of yesterday, but with our memory of him, we carry him into tomorrow," she said.

McCain had harsh words for people who have blamed the United States for the terrorist attacks.

"Pay no heed to the poor, misguided souls, in this country and overseas, who claim that America brought these atrocities on herself," McCain said. "They are deluded and their hearts are crammed by hatred."

Bingham was the owner of a public relations firm in New York. He had moved from San Francisco last year.

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