By Gary Bennett
“The air here just feels heavy.” That’s what my wife observed as we quietly walked around Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Strangers nodded in agreement.
I know exactly what she meant. It’s the weight of sorrow and lives snuffed out much too soon we were feeling. It’s the weight of the randomness and fragility of life. It’s the weight of unspeakable terror and profound courage.
Flight 93 National Memorial stands as a testament to the 40 passengers and crew members who lost their lives on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, battling four hijackers intent on crashing the jetliner into a target in Washington, D.C. Evidence indicates their intended target was most likely the U.S. Capitol.
For most of us, this day remains etched in our minds even 25 years later. But for the roughly one-third of the U.S. population born after 9/11, the memorial is important not only to help us remember but to teach an important lesson in what real courage and patriotism are all about. It is amazing what everyday Americans can do when put in a dreadful situation.
We all know the story.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, a bright and crisp late-summer day, four commercial airliners were hijacked by al-Qaida terrorists in a planned attack against the United States. Two were flown into the World Trade Center’s twin towers in New York City. A third crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.
The fourth, United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 bound for San Francisco from Newark, New Jersey, left the ground at 8:42 a.m., more than 25 minutes behind schedule because of heavy airport traffic. That delay, and the incredible valor of the passengers and crew on board, saved countless lives a little over an hour later when the plane crashed into a southwestern Pennsylvania field.
After 46 minutes of normal flight, the hijackers overtook the cockpit at about 9:28 a.m., incapacitating Capt. Jason Dahl and First Officer LeRoy Homer. From near Cleveland, Ohio, the hijackers turned the plane southeast toward Washington, D.C.
Passengers and crew were forced to the rear of the plane, where they began making calls to family, friends and authorities. Through those calls, they learned that other hijacked planes had struck the World Trade Center and Pentagon and realized Flight 93 was part of the same attack.
They took a vote and made the agonizing decision to fight back.
At 9:57 a.m., passengers and crew began their assault on the cockpit. The hijacker flying the plane responded by violently rolling and pitching the aircraft in an attempt to knock them off balance.
The struggle continued for about six minutes. At 10:03 a.m., Flight 93 crashed into a Somerset County field at 563 mph, nearly upside down. There were no survivors.
The calls passengers and crew placed from the plane provided vital information about what was happening on board. Thirteen people made 37 calls between the hijacking and the crash.
They reported that the hijackers had knives, that a passenger had been stabbed, that a flight attendant had been killed and that two people believed to be the captain and first officer were lying injured or dead.
Upon learning of the other attacks, passengers and crew collectively decided to rush the hijackers and try to retake the plane. They must have known their actions would almost certainly have deadly consequences. They decided to act anyway.
The crash site was just 18 minutes flying time from Washington, D.C. The passengers and crew continued fighting until the final moments of the flight, and the hijackers crashed the plane rather than risk losing control of it.
Flight 93 National Memorial is the nation’s tribute to that heroic action and the people who carried it out.
Congress authorized the creation of the national memorial in 2002. A temporary memorial had already formed near the crash site, where visitors left flowers, flags, notes and other tributes.
The first features of the permanent memorial were dedicated Sept. 10, 2011. The Visitor Center Complex opened four years later, and the Tower of Voices was completed in 2020.
My wife and I visited earlier this year on the way back from Pittsburgh.
The first thing you see as you creep down the long and winding road into the memorial from U.S. Route 30 is the stately Tower of Voices, a 93-foot tower standing sentinel over the landscape and commemorating the 40 passengers and crew members with one wind chime for each.
On a breezy day, one can spend a long time listening in silence to the musical tribute to the lost souls.
Beyond it are the Memorial Groves: 40 groves of 40 trees honoring the passengers and crew. The nearby Allée, a tree-lined pathway connecting the Visitor Center Complex with Memorial Plaza, is lined with Red Sunset maples and follows the memorial’s sweeping “circle of embrace.”
The Visitor Center Complex stands beyond the groves and tells the story of the 40 passengers and crew members, their lives and the sorrowful events of the day in haunting detail.
The center includes exhibits, artifacts, a viewing window toward the crash site, a bookstore, the Flight Path Walkway and an overlook. All the exhibits are well done and understated.
The most moving part of the Visitor Center, without a doubt, is the bank of phones where visitors can hear surviving recordings and messages connected with calls placed from Flight 93.
Thirteen passengers and crew members placed 37 calls between 9:28 and 10:03 a.m. Only a small number were recorded, but phone records and accounts from the people who received the calls helped authorities reconstruct what happened aboard the plane.
It makes you feel terribly insignificant and a bit of an interloper to hear these intensely personal and profoundly sad final messages. But listen you must.
No history book can do justice to what is learned through them.
The calls reported the hijacking and described the hijackers and their violent acts. Through conversations with people on the ground, passengers and crew also learned about the attacks on the twin towers and Pentagon.
Finally, and heartbreakingly, came messages of love to family and the realization that the plane was unlikely to land safely.
After listening, it is a short trip down the hill to Memorial Plaza, which borders the actual crash site and debris field. The crash site itself is off-limits to the public and remains the final resting place of the passengers and crew.
The plaza culminates at the Wall of Names, 40 polished white marble panels inscribed with the names of each passenger and crew member. A roughly 17-ton sandstone boulder in the field marks the general area where the plane struck the ground.
The field and woods beyond are now quiet and green.
If you go, you are sure to be a changed person. You will marvel at the astonishing courage of your fellow human beings.
Flight 93 National Memorial is about a two-hour drive from Frederick.
As we approach the 25th anniversary of the attacks, the National Park Service has planned several observances at the memorial. All are free and open to the public.
The 25th annual September 11 Observance will take place Sept. 11 at Memorial Plaza. A morning observance will include quiet reflection on the attacks, a reading of the names of the Flight 93 passengers and crew members and the ringing of the Bells of Remembrance.
An afternoon ceremony will include remarks, keynote speakers, music and a public wreath laying at the Wall of Names.
Additional events surrounding the anniversary will continue through the weekend, offering another opportunity to remember the 40 people whose courage changed the course of that morning.
Gary Bennett is a longtime Frederick resident who spends his time hiking, biking, volunteering and providing childcare for grandchildren. He is married and retired from his career as a nonprofit marketing executive.