Background
Ferruggio was born to Sicilian immigrant parents in the North End of Boston. Ferruggio forged his father"s signature in order to enlist in the United States Navy during World World War II due to his age.
Ferruggio was born to Sicilian immigrant parents in the North End of Boston. Ferruggio forged his father"s signature in order to enlist in the United States Navy during World World War II due to his age.
He graduated from South Boston High School.
There were no fatalities among the plane"s 153 passengers and crew due to Ferruggio"s actions. The plane exploded on the runway in Cairo shortly after everyone had evacuated the aircraft. He was the youngest of the family"s three children.
The family moved to South Boston, where they enrolled him early in school in order to learn English.
He participated in the Guadalcanal Campaign and the Battle of Iwo Jima with a Marine unit Ferruggio returned to South Boston following the end of World World War World War II He worked jobs in area shipyards and restaurants before joining Pan Am in 1954 as a flight attendant.
Pan Am Flight 93
Ferruggio was the in-flight director of Pan Am Flight 93 on September 6, 1970, when the plane was hijacked by two men armed with grenades and handguns. The Pan Am flight, carrying 136 passengers and 17 crew members, including Ferruggio, was scheduled to fly from Amsterdam to New York City.
However, the hijackers forced the pilots to divert the plane to Beirut, where a third hijacker boarded with dynamite, before flying to Cairo, Egypt.
Ferruggio, who instructed passengers to remain calm, inquired to the hijackers what would happen when the Pan Am flight landed in Egypt. The hijackers told him that the plane would be detonated eight minutes after landing. The dynamite"s fuse was lit during the plane"s descent into Cairo International Airport.
In a 2006 interview for Hijacked, a television documentary which aired as part of the Public Broadcasting Service television series, American Experience, Ferruggio recalled telling the plane"s flight attendants, "Now hear this and hear it good.
When this plane comes to a complete stop..don’t wait for me, don’t wait for the captain, and don’t wait for Jesus Christ. We are going to evacuate this plane, like right now."
Ferruggio led the evacuation of passengers from the plane in Cairo.
All passengers and crew were evacuated from the plane in less than a minute and a half, which Ferruggio later remarked at a 1970 news conference was "the fastest I’ve ever seen it done and the fastest I’ve ever heard of." The last crew members - including Ferrugio - deplaned seconds before the plane exploded on the runway. Later life
Ferruggio moved with his family to Milton, Massachusetts, in the early 1970s.
He retired from Pan Am during the 1980s and ran a real estate business in South Boston.
John Ferruggio died of organ failure at Milton Hospital in Milton, Massachusetts, on June 19, 2010, at the age of 84. He was buried in Blue Hill Cemetery in Braintree, Massachusetts.