Doug Landau and the staff at Abrams Landau are fortunate to have been asked to help the families of those whose lives were taken on 9/11. One such person is Pilot Tom Heidenberger. His wife was a flight attendant on Flight 77 that went into the Pentagon. Doug Landau was impressed with Tom and the importance looking out for his kids was to him in the years following this tragedy. The Herndon Reston area injury lawyer was able to secure an Award from the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission that provided payments to Tom and his late wife’s children.

Also important to Captain Heidenberger is to make sure that other Flight 77 victims are not forgotten. He has been a member of the Pentagon Memorial Fund steering committee. Heidenberger fears that the 33 employees of United Airlines and American Airlines who lost their lives on 9/11 are being forgotten. “People remember the policemen and the firemen, but the 33 crew members were the first responders,” he says. “They fought with the hijackers to take back the airplanes. The flight attendants did what they were trained to do in reassuring the passengers, even though they most likely knew the end was near.” He hatched an idea to help fund the memorials for the victims of the attacks. See tomorrow’s post for part II