20 YEAR OF 9/11: MAN TO WALK FROM BOSTON TO NEW YORK TO HONOR VICTIMS OF TERRORIST ATTACK

THE SAXON

Paul Veneto, a former flight attendant who lost several colleagues when the United Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001, will honor his friends and colleagues on the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks by pushing an airline beverage cart from Boston to Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan this month.

Veneto, now 62 years old, worked for three decades as a flight attendant for five airlines He worked many times on Flight 175 from Boston to Los Angeles, but that September 11 he was free, having flown the night before.

At the time of the attacks, he was helping a friend build a concrete wall in Boston and was unaware at first that the second plane to hit the towers was his regular United flight. When he found out, “I was in shock,” he said. “I wanted revenge. I was angry and I knew there was nothing I could do. “

Now 20 years later the purpose of their 220-mile (350-kilometer) hike, called “Paulie’s Push,” is to recognize crews of the four tragic flights of September 11, 2001. “They were the first to respond. They were heroes. They were absolute heroes, ”he insisted in statements to Associated Press.

The walk will benefit the registered non-profit organizations of the families of the 9/11 crew members and “Power Forward 25”, that helps people facing addiction. A fight Veneto knows all too well, as the terrorist attacks fueled his dependence on the opioids prescribed for a back problem while he was still working. Then the 10th anniversary put him into a tailspin and he retired in 2011.

It took him five more years to overcome his drug addiction. Since October it has been training for the walk, pushing the cart in his hometown Braintree and Quincy, in Massachusetts, up to 16 miles (26 kilometers) per day. Your trip to New York begins on August 21.

You have lost 30 pounds and quit smoking. He’s been getting coaching advice from marathon director Dave McGillivray, two-time Stanley Cup champion Kevin Stevens, and Becca Pizzi, a Massachusetts woman who completed five years ago. seven marathons in seven days on seven continents.

It has been a struggle, but “It is nothing compared to what the crew did that day, Veneto says. “That thing (the cart) will end up in New York even if I have to carry it on my back. I know they would have done the same for me. ” Your heroic journey can be followed on the portal www.pauliespush.com