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Soaring Spirit of an American Patriot

Aired September 11, 2003 - 14:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, there could be no doubt when Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon on September 11 that the United States was under attack; 184 people were killed in that assault. And today, a chapel marks the point of impact.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld led a dedication ceremony inside the small chapel, a series of four stained-glass windows created by artist Dennis Roberts and assembled by 400 military chaplains. Also in the walls in black and silver, the names of the victims.

Well, Captain Charles "Chic" Burlingame was at the controls on September 11 when terrorists hijacked his American Airlines jet and drove it into the Pentagon. Today, his family has discovered a way to deal with their loss and keep his spirit very much alive.

With me are Burlingame's brother and sister, Debra and Brad.

Thanks for being with us.

BRAD BURLINGAME, BROTHER OF 9/11 VICTIM: Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: All right, I love the picture when Chic was 6 years old. Tell us that story, Brad, about how he made this airplane and basically how he was destined to be a pilot.

B. BURLINGAME: Chic knew from very early on that he wanted to fly planes. And this photograph represents that.

He took some scrap lumber and built it unassisted and proudly showed it to the family. And this photograph represents that moment in time. A lot people have been responding to this photograph who have seen it. And there's lots of really wonderful things about his life that we've been trying to figure out ways to utilize the tragedy and turn it into a positive effort. And taking that photograph and turning it into the idea for creating a foundation was part of what we're doing now.

PHILLIPS: All right, now, we're going it talk about that foundation in a minute. But we got to talk about just his passion as an aviator. It started at 6 years old. And then he became a fighter pilot in the military. He really lived on and carried out his dream, didn't he?

B. BURLINGAME: He did. He flew model airplanes when he was a young boy. He knew very early on he wanted to fly. So, graduating from high school, he went to the Naval Academy and then became a fighter pilot, as you say. He flew F-4s for the Navy off carriers and off. And then he left from that to fly for American Airlines for 22 years.

He also continued to serve in the Navy all during that time as a Reserve officer and rose to the rank of captain in the Navy, and all those years working right here at the Pentagon in this area right behind us. So he retired as a captain from the Navy and continued to fly for American Airlines. Those were his two passions, American Airlines and the United States Navy.

PHILLIPS: Well, and, Debra, I said, so was Chic his call sign also in the military? And you said, oh, no, it was...

DEBRA BURLINGAME, SISTER OF 9/11 VICTIM: Hollywood.

PHILLIPS: Hollywood.

D. BURLINGAME: Because we spent our adolescence after my father retired from the Air Force in Southern California.

And, of course, Chic, everyone who sees pictures of him knows he was a very good-looking guy, Hollywood handsome. In fact, I always say if, they call up central casting, they would come up with a guy that looked like Chic. So, yes.

PHILLIPS: Chic should have been in the movie "Top Gun."

D. BURLINGAME: Exactly. Exactly so.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: All right, this leads us to the sculpture. Tell us about the foundation. Tell us how you're honoring him and what the money will go towards.

D. BURLINGAME: We've created the Patriot Dreams Foundation. And foundation will be a charity raising money for scholarships for young men and women who would like to serve in the United States armed forces and who would like to be commissioned officers in the United States armed forces.

And we don't think that a college degree, a college education, should keep them from that dream. A lot of these young people come from families with limited incomes. And they may be not the academic stars that are going to get into Princeton and Harvard. But they have great records. They show great character, the kind of focus and discipline that would make a superb officer. And so we want to create scholarships for them. So we got very talented artist Ron Petitt.

PHILLIPS: A Vietnam vet.

D. BURLINGAME: A Vietnam vet, also Navy ROTC.

PHILLIPS: Wow. D. BURLINGAME: And he created, basically brought that picture to life for us and created this marvelous sculpture which we've called American Patriot, which is what our brother truly was.

And you're right. Secretary Rumsfeld's speech really invoked the sense of the American Patriot and the Patriot Dreams Foundation.

PHILLIPS: When these finally become available -- hopefully, that will be soon -- and folks purchase these sculptures, they put them up on the shelves, on the mantles, what do you want the owners of these sculptures to remember when they look at this little boy, when they look at this airplane, when they look at how he etched USA on the wood there?

D. BURLINGAME: Well, I think this image, to me, it stands for youthful aspirations. And the fact that you notice a USA on the wings, that is an American patriot.

This is a little boy who not only is aspiring to something bigger than himself. It's a focused dream, in terms of service to his country. So I hope people look at this and are very inspired, that the little child lead us. That's a scripture from the Bible, I think. And I hope that that's what they think of when they see this.

And the fact that this is one of the September 11 pilots I think just makes it more poignant, knowing the fate that this little boy will have. But it wasn't his death that I want them to remember. I want them to remember his life. And that's what the Patriot Dreams Foundation is going to all about, making lives better for these young people.

PHILLIPS: Your brother led a pretty amazing life.

B. BURLINGAME: He did. He was an unbelievable character as well.

But he's inspiring my family. He's inspiring a lot of our very close friends. And like the other families who lost their loved ones on September 11, there's lots of wonderful stories that I hope inspire this country to continue to move in a direction that creates a better world. And that's a little small part of what this is about.

PHILLIPS: Once again, it's called the Patriot Dreams Foundation. We're going to be looking for that. I know you can go online. Our viewers will be able to log in also to our Web site and get the contact to the foundation.

Thank you so much, Debra and Brad Burlingame.

B. BURLINGAME: Thank you very much.

D. BURLINGAME: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Appreciate it -- Miles.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 11, 2003 - 14:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, there could be no doubt when Flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon on September 11 that the United States was under attack; 184 people were killed in that assault. And today, a chapel marks the point of impact.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld led a dedication ceremony inside the small chapel, a series of four stained-glass windows created by artist Dennis Roberts and assembled by 400 military chaplains. Also in the walls in black and silver, the names of the victims.

Well, Captain Charles "Chic" Burlingame was at the controls on September 11 when terrorists hijacked his American Airlines jet and drove it into the Pentagon. Today, his family has discovered a way to deal with their loss and keep his spirit very much alive.

With me are Burlingame's brother and sister, Debra and Brad.

Thanks for being with us.

BRAD BURLINGAME, BROTHER OF 9/11 VICTIM: Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: All right, I love the picture when Chic was 6 years old. Tell us that story, Brad, about how he made this airplane and basically how he was destined to be a pilot.

B. BURLINGAME: Chic knew from very early on that he wanted to fly planes. And this photograph represents that.

He took some scrap lumber and built it unassisted and proudly showed it to the family. And this photograph represents that moment in time. A lot people have been responding to this photograph who have seen it. And there's lots of really wonderful things about his life that we've been trying to figure out ways to utilize the tragedy and turn it into a positive effort. And taking that photograph and turning it into the idea for creating a foundation was part of what we're doing now.

PHILLIPS: All right, now, we're going it talk about that foundation in a minute. But we got to talk about just his passion as an aviator. It started at 6 years old. And then he became a fighter pilot in the military. He really lived on and carried out his dream, didn't he?

B. BURLINGAME: He did. He flew model airplanes when he was a young boy. He knew very early on he wanted to fly. So, graduating from high school, he went to the Naval Academy and then became a fighter pilot, as you say. He flew F-4s for the Navy off carriers and off. And then he left from that to fly for American Airlines for 22 years.

He also continued to serve in the Navy all during that time as a Reserve officer and rose to the rank of captain in the Navy, and all those years working right here at the Pentagon in this area right behind us. So he retired as a captain from the Navy and continued to fly for American Airlines. Those were his two passions, American Airlines and the United States Navy.

PHILLIPS: Well, and, Debra, I said, so was Chic his call sign also in the military? And you said, oh, no, it was...

DEBRA BURLINGAME, SISTER OF 9/11 VICTIM: Hollywood.

PHILLIPS: Hollywood.

D. BURLINGAME: Because we spent our adolescence after my father retired from the Air Force in Southern California.

And, of course, Chic, everyone who sees pictures of him knows he was a very good-looking guy, Hollywood handsome. In fact, I always say if, they call up central casting, they would come up with a guy that looked like Chic. So, yes.

PHILLIPS: Chic should have been in the movie "Top Gun."

D. BURLINGAME: Exactly. Exactly so.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: All right, this leads us to the sculpture. Tell us about the foundation. Tell us how you're honoring him and what the money will go towards.

D. BURLINGAME: We've created the Patriot Dreams Foundation. And foundation will be a charity raising money for scholarships for young men and women who would like to serve in the United States armed forces and who would like to be commissioned officers in the United States armed forces.

And we don't think that a college degree, a college education, should keep them from that dream. A lot of these young people come from families with limited incomes. And they may be not the academic stars that are going to get into Princeton and Harvard. But they have great records. They show great character, the kind of focus and discipline that would make a superb officer. And so we want to create scholarships for them. So we got very talented artist Ron Petitt.

PHILLIPS: A Vietnam vet.

D. BURLINGAME: A Vietnam vet, also Navy ROTC.

PHILLIPS: Wow. D. BURLINGAME: And he created, basically brought that picture to life for us and created this marvelous sculpture which we've called American Patriot, which is what our brother truly was.

And you're right. Secretary Rumsfeld's speech really invoked the sense of the American Patriot and the Patriot Dreams Foundation.

PHILLIPS: When these finally become available -- hopefully, that will be soon -- and folks purchase these sculptures, they put them up on the shelves, on the mantles, what do you want the owners of these sculptures to remember when they look at this little boy, when they look at this airplane, when they look at how he etched USA on the wood there?

D. BURLINGAME: Well, I think this image, to me, it stands for youthful aspirations. And the fact that you notice a USA on the wings, that is an American patriot.

This is a little boy who not only is aspiring to something bigger than himself. It's a focused dream, in terms of service to his country. So I hope people look at this and are very inspired, that the little child lead us. That's a scripture from the Bible, I think. And I hope that that's what they think of when they see this.

And the fact that this is one of the September 11 pilots I think just makes it more poignant, knowing the fate that this little boy will have. But it wasn't his death that I want them to remember. I want them to remember his life. And that's what the Patriot Dreams Foundation is going to all about, making lives better for these young people.

PHILLIPS: Your brother led a pretty amazing life.

B. BURLINGAME: He did. He was an unbelievable character as well.

But he's inspiring my family. He's inspiring a lot of our very close friends. And like the other families who lost their loved ones on September 11, there's lots of wonderful stories that I hope inspire this country to continue to move in a direction that creates a better world. And that's a little small part of what this is about.

PHILLIPS: Once again, it's called the Patriot Dreams Foundation. We're going to be looking for that. I know you can go online. Our viewers will be able to log in also to our Web site and get the contact to the foundation.

Thank you so much, Debra and Brad Burlingame.

B. BURLINGAME: Thank you very much.

D. BURLINGAME: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Appreciate it -- Miles.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com