Summer of 21 - #41 - Flight 93 Memorial

July 21st, 2021 

One reason for staying in this area was that we wanted to visit the Flight 93 National Memorial at Stoystown, Pennsylvania.  You can read more about this HERE. 

Here is an excerpt from that link.

"A common field one day.  A field of honor forever.

On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, the U.S. came under attack when four commercial airliners were hijacked and used to strike targets on the ground. Nearly 3,000 people tragically lost their lives. Because of the actions of the 40 passengers and crew aboard one of the planes, Flight 93, the attack on the U.S. Capitol was thwarted."

This post will focus on the events here on that terrible day that shocked us all. 9/11 will be forever etched in our hearts.

As we entered the park we saw the Tower of Voices in the distance.  I will tell you about this giant wind chime when we visit it on our way out.

We parked and walked to the Visitor Center. The pathway is the flight line that Flight 93 flew as it descended out of control and crashed.  In the picture below the memorial has been designed to show the flight path of the plane descending, along the pathway(left of the picture), between the pillars before crashing into the trees (just peeking up above the pathway) in the distance. You will see the actual site later. 

On the pathway there are signs detailing the times and flights of the other hijacked planes that crashed into the two towers at the World Trade Center & The Pentagon.

Although they were across the pathway I made sure to step over them. I just couldn't walk on them. 

We arrived at the Visitor Center and went in.

I think most people remember where they were when they heard about this. I was in Las Vegas, Ryan & I were getting ready for school and work. Bryan had already left for work. We were 3 hours behind east coast time. I always had the news on in the morning in the background while we ate breakfast and got ready. the first plane hit at 8.46am(5.46am our time), the second at 9.03am(6.03am).  Yes we were up!! I remember staring mesmerized at the screen and trying to understand what they were saying about the first plane.  Not knowing if it was just a terrible accident, I saw the second plane hit the other tower.  It was at that moment that you knew instantly that this was NO accident. 

The center has a exhibition that is very detailed and takes a while to go around. It was very sobering.

Yellow were the passengers, brown the terrorists.

The terrorists were all in First Class. The back third of the plane was empty.     

The passengers were all made to go to the back of the plane where they formulated their plan to storm the cockpit.

There were the actual recording of passengers calls to their loved ones and 911. I'm not sure how I felt about having them readily available for the public to listen to, although I'm sure the relatives approved their release. I did listen to the recordings.  They were such heroes and it was like being transported back in time.  Of course by speaking to relatives/friends they found out about the other planes crashing and determined the same was planned for their plane.

HERE is a detailed account of what is believed to have happened aboard Flight 93

We sat in the center just reflecting.  What a day that was!!!

Back outside we walked along to the overview at the end of the pathway pictured at the beginning of this blog.  This looked out over the Wall of Names and on to the crash site.

"A common field one day. A field of honor forever."

The picture below shows the Wall of Names. The rock in the distance is located at the edge of the impact site where Flight 93 crashed.  It flew in a line from where we took this picture through where the Wall of Names is, to the boulder and trees in the distance.

It is amazing to me that of all the places the plane could have come down it crashed in these fields.  There were a few houses and farms dotted around but to my knowledge none were damaged. 

We drove down to the Memorial Plaza. There is more information on this area HERE.

Looking back at the Visitor Center

A ranger was about to give a talk about the events that happened leading up to, on the flight and here on that fateful day. Some were fact, some were the conjecture of various people.  He made it very interesting by comparing different scenarios and debunking some theories with his knowledge and reasoning. We sat and listened. He was of the same mindset as us which definitely helped. It was a very refreshing talk in this day and age. I wish I had thought to record it, just for my own recollection.

Afterwards four or five of us stopped to ask questions, talk to him and recall where we had been. I'm sure he has spoken to many people from different walks of life that have information to share and he values any input. He is a wealth of knowledge it seems on this subject. We appreciated that he didn't rush us.  Someone mentioned all flights being cancelled and the planes in the air having to land at the nearest airport, asking if that was true. Bryan shared that he was working at the small airport in Henderson, Nevada and confirmed that flights were shut down. 

After the discussion we started our walk to the Wall of Names.

Walking toward the Wall of Names

Here is an excerpt from the link above on the Memorial Plaza.

"Hemlock Grove and Impact Site"

"A walk along the Memorial Plaza provides visitors the opportunity to view the impact site and a grove of eastern hemlock trees that were damaged as a result of the Flight 93 crash. A visible gap in the tree line serves as a lasting "scar" from where over 80 damaged trees were removed.

Near the base of the hemlock grove sits a native 17.5 ton sandstone boulder, placed in 2011 to indicate the edge of the impact site. During the 2001 crime scene investigation, the FBI methodically excavated the impact site over the course of thirteen days. The crater was later backfilled in October 2001 at the direction of the local coroner. Today the impact site and hemlock grove are closed to the public. Families of the passengers and crew of Flight 93 have access to visit this final resting place."

                             

I love that only the relatives of the passengers and crew can visit the area around the boulder and into the trees beyond.  The remains were found throughout that area and in some cases it took years of painstaking research by the coroner who didn't stop until every person had been formally identified through DNA. 

I found this ARTICLE from Metropolis Magazine very informative.

Here is a small excerpt:

"One of the recurring motifs in the design is an abstracted hemlock tree. The symbolism works on several levels. In nature, the trees are bound together by a shared root system, like the passengers united by their shared destiny. Because the grove survived the fire from the crash, it was seen as a symbol of resilience.  When Paul Murdoch designed the concrete walls of the visitors' center, he specified that the wooden formwork should be from hemlock trees.  The hand-hewn boards, which came from old local barns, left the concrete deeply scored with the impression of the hemlock grain, a nod to the resilience of the trees in the grove, as well as a subtle connection to the region."

In the picture below you can see the boulder in the distance, indicating the edge of the impact site and part of the concrete wall showing the hemlock grain.

Another excerpt from the link above on the Memorial Plaza.

"Wall of Names"

"Located underneath the flight path and final approach of Flight 93, the Wall of Names is constructed from white marble. Forty individually selected and polished marble stones are inscribed with each of the passenger or crew member names. Black granite denotes the flight path. From the Ceremonial Gate, constructed of hemlock wood, visitors can look down the flight path to the last piece of granite etched with the time of the crash and the impact site marked by a distant sandstone boulder. 
Want to learn more about each passenger and crew member of Flight 93? Read the biographies of all forty heroes and find out which ones made a phone call on the plane."

In the picture below, at the top of the hill you can see the overview, with the glass that was engraved "A common field one day. A field of honor forever.", where we stood and took the pictures looking down nearer the beginning.

Back at the Plaza we took a moment to sit, rest and reflect.

There were some beautiful wild flowers, that may have been planted but maybe not.

and we were joined by butterflies and bees.

A house/farm in the distance.

On our way out of the park we stopped at the Tower of Voices that you can read about HERE.

The Tower of Voices is a magnificent structure, with a chime for each of the passengers and crew that lost their lives that fateful day.  I got a video of them but the sound is not that audible. There has to be quite a wind to get them to work and I believe the design is being adapted to hopefully correct that.

If you listen carefully to the beginning of the video linked below you can hear them when we are further away.  As the wind increases as I start to walk you have to listen very carefully.  You can see the chimes moving when we first get close and then the wind stops. 

Here's the Tower of Voices video.

Well that's it for today. It was one of the better memorials that I have visited, well thought out with a sense and meaning. We have yet to visit the World Trade Memorial but this one will take a lot of beating in my opinion.