Isle ‘hero’ doesn’t
By Gregg K. Kakesako
recall saving
fellow passenger
Star-BulletinHawaii Army Guard Sgt. Fred Agag is being called a hero today.
But he doesn't recall what he did.
One woman, amid the chaos, smoke and fire that raged through the cabin of American Airlines Flight 1420 late Tuesday night, says she owes her life to Agag, 31.
Agag, still recuperating from a large gash in his right groin area, tries to take it in stride when he thinks back to those harrowing moments.
"I blacked out on impact," said Agag from his bed at a hospital in Little Rock."It must have been because I hit my head. ...The next thing I realized was that I was outside of the plane.
"Everything there was mass confusion. I thought it was a nightmare, but it was real."
The next day, as he lay in his hospital bed recuperating from his wounds, he was visited by a couple from Dallas.
"The woman and man thanked me for carrying his wife to safety," said Agag, who has been in the National Guard for 12 years.
"The woman said I piggy-backed her out by carrying her on my back," said Agag, who is 5 feet 2 inches tall. "I just don't remember doing that. I do remember her sitting across the aisle from me, because she was a tall lady in a business suit."
As the jetliner approached Little Rock, the pilot told passengers "to look to our left to see the lightning show," said Agag, who was in a window seat on row 9.
Another Hawaii Army National Guard soldier -- Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Ko, 40 -- was located farther back in the plane in row 25. He escaped the crash with minor injuries.
As the jetliner made its approach, Agag said it seemed like "it was coming in too fast."
Once the aircraft was on the runway, Agag said, it felt "like a car going out of control when you get off the road and hit gravel. ... At one point I could feel it sliding sideways."
The plane skidded off the runway, plunged over a stone embankment and ripped open when it hit a metal walkway. Before coming to a halt, it broke into three parts.
Nine people, including the pilot, died. Eighty-three were injured.
Agag and Ko were supposed to undergo training at the National Guard's Professional Education Center. Agag, a personnel specialist with the 12th Personnel Services Detachment, was only supposed to be there for three days. He doesn't think he wants to return again.
Agag hopes that he will be released from the hospital this weekend.
"I'm relieved that I'm breathing and not six feet under," said the 1986 McKinley High School graduate.
"I hope this doesn't leave me with any emotional scars, although I know there will be a big scar where a whole flap of skin opened up."
