The First Victims: Their Stories

Sept. 12 -- We already know the names of hundreds of the victims of Tuesday's horrendous attacks: the crew and passengers of the four planes that went down. Here are some of their stories.

Barbara Olson, Prosecutor and Commentator

Barbara Olson, a former federal prosecutor and the wife of U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson, died on board American Airlines Flight 77, the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

I remember Barbara very well. She was a very vibrant figure, with a great deal of zest. Many people knew her because she was on cable television a great deal as a commentator.

Her husband is perhaps the best-known government figure to have suffered a loss in the attacks.

The Olsons had a very close marriage. Barbara had called her husband just before her plane took off from Virginia's Dulles airport, bound for Los Angeles. He was horrified when he heard news that a California-bound airliner had smashed into the World Trade Center, but was relieved to know that his wife was not onboard.

A short time later, however, she called him from her cell phone and said, "I'm on the plane and the plane is being hijacked." Then they were cut off.

He alerted the Justice Department command center immediately, then got his wife back on the line. She told him the hijackers were armed with knives and had herded the passengers to the back of the plane. She was very calm, he said.

Hoping to get a clue of where the plane was heading, Ted asked his wife if she could describe the ground she saw through the window.

She said, "All I see are buildings," and then the call abruptly ended.

David Angell, Television Producer

David Angell, one of the creators of the shows Cheers and Frasier, died with his wife Lynn on board American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the first World Trade Center tower.

Angell, 54, was perhaps the best-known of the victims who have been identified. I talked about him with Bebe Neuwirth, who played Lilith on Cheers.

"He was a quiet man, and my picture of him is a very, quiet strong presence," Neuwirth told me. She said he was "deeply intelligent and deeply funny," and a brilliant television producer who understood how to "talk up to the audience instead of down to the audience."