Twenty-five years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, we honor the memory and ultimate sacrifice of Navy Lt. Michael Scott “Scotty” Lamana remains.
Inside LSU’s Memorial Tower, the William A. Brookshire LSU Military Museum preserves the stories of university graduates who served their country. In September 2026, an exhibit includes Lamana’s Navy dress blue uniform, Naval Flight Officer wings and Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge.
The uniform brings his story back to the campus where he earned his degree, prepared for naval service and met the woman he would marry.
His Baton Rouge Years
Michael Scott Lamana was born in Baton Rouge on July 6, 1970. He was the son of Jay “Mike” and Wanda Lamana and the brother of Danielle “Dani” Lamana and Andrea Chatelain.
Military service was already part of his family’s history. His grandfather, Sam Michelli, served in the Navy during World War II.
Lamana attended Catholic High School in Baton Rouge and graduated in 1988. Friends, relatives and former colleagues consistently remembered him as cheerful, funny and hardworking. He was known as a practical joker, but also as someone who rarely sat still and regularly went out of his way to help others.
He enjoyed working on old cars and restored a Mustang himself. He also had a dog named Neiko, who appears beside him in one of the family photographs later published as part of a Baton Rouge remembrance.
These ordinary details remain important. They recall the person behind the uniform: a son, brother, husband, friend and neighbor with a strong sense of humor and an interest in anything mechanical.
LSU, Naval ROTC and Service to Baton Rouge
Lamana enrolled at LSU and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1992.
He wanted to become a Navy officer. Because LSU’s Naval ROTC connection operated through Southern University, Lamana participated in Southern University’s Navy ROTC program while completing his studies at LSU.
His commitment to service extended beyond ROTC. While still a student, he volunteered with the St. George Fire Department and served as a reserve deputy with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Those responsibilities came in addition to his university coursework and military training. They reflected a pattern that continued throughout his life: when help was needed, Lamana made himself available.
LSU was also where he met Lorna Duco. They married in 1995.
On the day Lamana graduated from LSU in 1992, he was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy.
Becoming a Naval Flight Officer
Lamana hoped to enter naval aviation. His eyesight prevented him from qualifying as a pilot, but another path remained open. He trained as a Naval Flight Officer and earned his wings.
His flight training included time in Pensacola, Florida, San Antonio, Texas, and Jacksonville, Florida. He later joined Patrol Squadron Nine, known as VP 9, at Naval Air Station Barber’s Point in Hawaii.
Lamana served aboard the P 3C Orion, a maritime patrol aircraft. His duties included work as a navigator and communicator, tactical coordinator and mission commander.
Those positions required technical ability, preparation and sound judgment. They also required the trust of the aircrew serving with him.
A former Navy ROTC professor remembered Lamana as loyal, a good shipmate and an officer and gentleman. Those who served with him also recalled his willingness to assist others and his concern for the people under his leadership.
His growing responsibilities never changed the qualities for which he was known in Baton Rouge. He remained energetic, approachable and ready to work.
His Final Navy Assignment
In February 1999, Lamana began serving on the Navy staff at the Pentagon.
He worked in the Navy Command Center, where he helped monitor operations involving the Navy’s worldwide fleet. He served as a briefer for the Chief of Naval Operations, and his responsibilities included briefing senior military leaders associated with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The assignment reflected the confidence the Navy placed in his ability and judgment.
Lamana continued his education while serving at the Pentagon. He was working toward a Master of Business Administration degree at the University of Maryland and expected to complete the program in December 2001.
Even with the demands of his military position and graduate studies, he continued making time for other people. Accounts preserved by the Pentagon Memorial describe him helping friends with projects at work and at home.
His father summarized his commitment plainly: “He loved his job. He loved the military.”
September 11, 2001
September 11 was Lamana’s scheduled day off.
According to the Lamana family’s account published by 225 Magazine, the Navy Command Center was short staffed that morning. Lamana went to work because his command needed him.
He was serving at his post when the Pentagon was attacked. Lamana died that morning at the age of 31.
The circumstances that placed him there reflected the way others remembered him. A need arose, and he responded.
His father later said, “He was just getting into a good part of his life.” Lamana had built a respected Navy career, was approaching completion of his graduate degree and had created a life with Lorna. Much of his future still appeared to be ahead of him.
How His Memory Has Been Kept
Lamana was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. His grave is in Section 64, which also contains the Pentagon Group Burial Marker honoring those whose remains could not be individually identified after the attack.
The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial also honors Lamana. His name appears on one of the 184 memorial units dedicated to the people who died at the Pentagon and aboard American Airlines Flight 77.
In Baton Rouge, his memory remains connected to the institutions and communities that formed important parts of his life. Those include St. Aloysius, Catholic High School, LSU and the St. George Fire Department.
His parents, Mike and Wanda, his wife, Lorna, and his sisters, Dani and Andrea, have helped preserve the more personal memory of the man they knew. Their accounts describe his humor, humility, loyalty and habit of putting the needs of others before his own.
One family story recalls Lamana allowing a newly married sailor to leave after returning from a six month deployment while Lamana stayed behind to complete the required equipment work. It was a small decision made away from public attention, but it revealed the kind of officer and shipmate he was.
The Mustang he restored, his wife, his dog Neiko, his practical jokes and his constant activity are also part of his memory. They keep his life from being defined only by the date on which it ended.
Twenty five years later, Lt. Michael Scott Lamana is remembered for the full life he lived: as a husband, son, brother, friend, LSU graduate, volunteer firefighter, reserve deputy, Naval Flight Officer and trusted Navy officer.
His service was steady. His concern for others was consistent. His devotion to duty was clear.
LSU still claims him as one of its own.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived” – General George S. Patton Jr.
Sources
- 9/11 Pentagon Memorial Fund, “LT Michael S. Lamana, USN.”
https://www.pentagonmemorial.org/biographies/lt-michael-s-lamana-usn/ - Naval History and Heritage Command, “National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial.”
https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/commemorations-toolkits/september-11-2001/sept-11-memorials/sept-11-national-pentagon-memorial.html - U.S. Navy Gold Star Program, “Michael ‘Scotty’ Lamana.”
https://www.navygoldstar.com/tribute/b8fe1fa8-145d-423e-beca-47ed544b4c0f - 225 Magazine, “Remembering Baton Rouge’s Fallen.”
https://www.225batonrouge.com/article/remembering-baton-rouges-fallen - Louisiana State University, “Louisiana State University ROTC.”
https://www.lsu.edu/rotc/ - Louisiana State University, “William A. Brookshire LSU Military Museum.”
https://www.lsu.edu/brookshire-museum/index.php - 9/11 Pentagon Memorial Fund, “About the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial.”
https://www.pentagonmemorial.org/explore/about-the-memorial/
Exhibit note: As of September 2026, the William A. Brookshire LSU Military Museum in Memorial Tower is displaying an exhibit that includes Lt. Michael Scott Lamana’s Navy dress blue uniform, Naval Flight Officer wings and Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge.
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