Howard,John

From 911Encyclopedia:

Australians Minister John Howard, one of the strongest supporters of President Bush worldwide, was booked for AA77 -the Pentagon machine on September 11th:

"...On September 7, a call from the Australian Embassy in Washington informed me that on the 10th. of September 2001...my wife and I were invited to fly to Washington the next day to be guests of our Embassy... ...on that Monday at a wonderful Naval ceremony it all happened, both the President and our PM were gracious enough to mention me in their speeces... ...All quite wonderful, the next day it all hit the fan. We then found out we were originally booked to come home on American Airlines flight 77 from Dulles to LA, at the last moment we were rebooked so we could join the PM and Mrs Howard on their visit to Arlington. We got out of Washington on the first flight from Dulles to LA on the next Saturday, very happy to be home...

http://smmlonline.com/articles/canberrabell.html http://www.cag2.com/canberra_flight77.htm Canberra vet lives to tell the tale October 01, 2001 "...It's September 10 in Washington, USA, as survivor of the sunken HMAS Canberra, Mackenzie Gregory, turns to Australian Prime Minister John Howard and says "See you tomorrow at Arlington". Unbeknown to Mr Gregory, he is about to survive another event of historical significance - the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington the following day. Furthermore, Mr Gregory may also have the Prime Minister to thank for his good fortune after he was originally booked on Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon on September 11. Staff from the Australian Embassy cancelled the booking from Flight 77 and re-scheduled his flight to coincide with the Prime Minister's attendance at a wreath-laying ceremony in Arlington. As one of the few survivors from the sinking of HMAS Canberra on August 9, 1942, Mr Gregory was in Washington for a ceremony handing over the bell from USS Canberra to the Australian Government. Three US warships sunk that night following an attack by a Japanese surface force, with the then US President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, decreeing that a replacement ship be named after HMAS Canberra. At the time, Mr Gregory was a sub-lieutenant before he retired from the RAN in 1954 as a lieutenant commander. In 1964, USS Canberra came to Melbourne with Mr Gregory able to have his son baptised on board, utilising the ship's bell as a font. Then in 1981-82, USS Canberra was dismantled and the bell kept in storage in Virginia until Australia's ambassador to the US heard of the bell's link to Mr Gregory. "My wife and I were invited to attend the ceremony on Monday the 10th," Mr Gregory told Navy News. "It was a wonderful day set in the idyllic surrounds of the White House." President George W Bush even broke ranks to personally meet Mr Gregory, with Mr Bush ordering a three-star marine general to photograph himself with Mr Gregory, his wife and Prime Minister John Howard. "We chatted briefly and Mr Bush said, 'It's an honour to meet you, sir'." The next morning Flight 77 was flown into the nearby Pentagon, with Mr Gregory and his wife taken to a hotel opposite the Australian Embassy shortly after. "We were stuck in Washington until the 15th when we were able to get the first flight to Australia out of Los Angeles.