The most poignant tragedy in this incident is what happened to the children.

This flight occurred during a fare promotion which allowed children to fly for 1 cent if accompanied by an adult. As a result there were 52 children on board, including 4 lap children.

United policy at the time was to tell parents to wrap their lap infants on a blanket on put them on the floor, where they would hold them in place with their hands and feet (!).

This was advice that lead f/a Jan Brown-Lohr felt was misguided. In the end, one lap child died, which has haunted Ms. Brown-Lohr ever since and has led her to lobby for every child to have his or her own seat with proper restraints.

In all, 11 children perished that day.

Another, perhaps unsung, hero of this incident was sportscaster Jerry Schemmel who, after surviving the crash, heard the cries of a baby inside the fuselage and rushed back into the wreckage where he found an 11-month old baby stuck in the baggage compartment and was able to save it.