September 2025 - Page 42 of 45 - You Will Shoot Your Eye Out

In the early morning hours of September 5, 1986, a Pan Am flight carrying 365 passengers from Pakistan to Germany was hijacked by four Palestinian terrorists. As the hijackers boarded the plane and demanded passage to Cyprus, the flight crew was forced to act quickly. The senior air hostess, 22-year-old Neerja Bhanot, swiftly punched in the code for “hijacking” over the intercom, which allowed the pilots to escape from the cockpit unscathed and kept the plane on the ground.

Over the next 17 hours, Bhanot bravely put her life on the line to save others again and again. When the terrorists demanded the passports of American passengers, presumably to single them out for execution, Bhanot hid their documents, flushing them down the toilet or hiding them under seat cushions.

And when the ordeal came to a head and the hijackers began shooting indiscriminately into the aisles, Bhanot flung open the emergency door, allowing hundreds of passengers to jump to safety. She stayed behind to shield three children from gunfire — and was killed in the process.

Later on the Indian Government posthumously awarded her the Ashoka Chakra (alternative spelling: Ashok Chakra) , India’s highest peacetime military decoration awarded for valor, courageous action, or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield. They also issued a postage stamp. All I can say is that this is one thing that India does right for it heroes! Grumpy