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<\/p>\nDeora Bodley, 20, was a La Jolla Country Day graduate, and the youngest victim aboard Flight 93.<\/p>\n
SAN DIEGO \u2014 Deora Bodley, a 20-year-old San Diego woman, was among the victims of Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. As her mother, Debby Borza, reflects on that fateful day, she shares how she has transformed her immense grief into a mission to honor Deora and other victims of the tragedy.<\/p>\n
Deora, a La Jolla Country Day graduate, was returning to Santa Clara University after visiting a friend on the East Coast. Originally booked on a later flight, she took a standby seat on Flight 93. Just before boarding, Deora left a message for her boyfriend, notifying him of her earlier arrival in San Francisco.<\/p>\n
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Debby recalls the moment the fear and uncertainty struck her as she learned from Deora’s friend that she had been dropped off at the airport early. With no confirmation, she walked to Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church in La Jolla to pray. \u201cIt\u2019s as if it was yesterday,\u201d Debby reflected. During her prayer, she recalls asking God “where is she.” She believed she heard his voice say, \u201cShe’s with me.\u201d Almost immediately afterward, she received a call from United Airlines confirming her worst fears: Deora was on Flight 93.<\/p>\n
The flight had been hijacked, and the 40 passengers and crew fought back against the terrorists, preventing the plane from reaching its intended target, believed to be the U.S. Capitol. “I had the opportunity to listen to the cockpit recording. I heard the struggle,” Debby said. In a tragic turn, the terrorists crashed the plane into a Pennsylvania field, killing everyone on board. \u201cThere was no suffering,\u201d Debby said. \u201cThat\u2019s G-force for some of these people. They could have passed out. Who knows?\u201d<\/p>\n
The aftermath was filled with grief and unanswered questions. Nevertheless, Debby found purpose in her pain. She forgave the four terrorists responsible for the tragedy, saying, “From that, it’s provided me so much in the area of being there for others.” She has dedicated her life to ensuring Deora and the other victims are remembered, helping to create the Flight 93 National Memorial and working with the 9\/11 National Memorial Trail Alliance.<\/p>\n
Each year on September 11, Debby attends a ceremony at the Flight 93 crash site. She also speaks to students about Deora, who aspired to be a child psychologist. Many students remind her of Deora as they are young, smart, and eager to make a difference. \u201cIf his plan was for me to figure out how to keep her story alive, then the plan is happening,\u201d Debby shares, emphasizing her commitment to continuing Deora’s legacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deora Bodley, 20, was a La Jolla Country Day graduate, and the youngest victim aboard Flight 93. SAN…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-461663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}