Posted on 09/09/2011 6:43:50 AM PDT by flowerplough
The pilgrimages here started soon after the attacks.
Local resident Donna Glessner remembers seeing visitors navigating Somerset County's rural roads with maps spread out on their dashboards. Many ended up taking pictures of the wrong place.
The visitors bold enough to flag down a local always asked two questions: Where did the plane go down and how close can I get?
"It just felt wrong for us in the community not to be helpful," Glessner said.
In January 2002, four months after the deadliest attacks in history on U.S. soil, a group of local volunteers started staffing the site of an abandoned coal strip mine where United Flight 93, the fourth airliner hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists on 9/11, crashed. The site had become the final resting place of 40 individuals from 11 states and three countries who decided to fight back.
For the last decade the crash site has consisted of a chain-link fence, Porta-Johns, and a makeshift museum housed in a nearby rusted metal shed with concrete floors. The building was last used as the command post for investigators in the weeks after Sept. 11.
...
These visitors have left behind so far about 40,000 tribute items: police badges, fireman's hats, tiny flags with messages written on the white stripes, a purple heart, and even a brick from the seized Afghanistan compound of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. "Placed here in tribute to the first warriors of the Global War on Terror," reads a note attached to the brick.
But now, in time for the 10th anniversary, this homemade shrine has received a National Park Service makeover. Officially opening on Sept. 10, the upgraded 2,220-acre Flight 93 National Memorial includes a two-mile processional drive to a landscaped field of honor. Soon this field will be...
(Excerpt) Read more at worldmag.com ...
I think I like the makeshift one better. Flame away
Unfortunately, many local working farms were taken to create this four square mile (!) memorial. This was not the Battle of Gettysburg; I’m sure this will irritate the 9/11 hagiographers but in my view a simple memorial and an appropriate museum building would have sufficed, without the disruption and ongoing expense of millions to taxpayers.
No argument here. We don’t need 2220 acres (largely seized by eminent domain) and all the Park Service trimmings. I personally would’ve liked to have seen maybe a statue of Todd Beamer and the passengers rising from their seats preparing to fight back against the terrorists. Celebrate their defiance and willingness to go down fighting, y’know?
}:-)4
It is remembered for the courage, and the grace of the passengers who took the actions necessary to protect the lives of others.
There have been some wonderful depictions of the events on that flight..showing how the passengers got the news of the other crashes, and how they communicated with their loved ones..especially the awesome "Let's Roll!!"
What is never depicted ( and rightly so) but no doubt obvious to most of the passengers, was that they were already dead....they had nothing to lose...
...And elected a muslim President....
Reminds me I need to slap the hell out of my sister
Give her one for me too.
I tend to agree with you. I ain’t ‘fraid of no flames. :)
Thanks for posting this. It gave me an opening to explain Flight 93 to my 9 year-old son.
I think the heroic people on Flight 93 and the loyal and faithful people on the ground in Shanksville are so important. They remind us what a deep bench we have. There are so many good, decent, brave Americans that a random assortment of them on a plane could defeat a terrorist plot. And a random location in Pennsylvania could serve as their memorial because the people who happened to live in the area had what it took to keep their memory alive, for years, because they thought it was the right thing to do.
God bless America.
“don’t move or you will injure yourself or the airplane”.— Mohammed Atta 9/11/01
He was very moderate in how concerned he was about peace on the airplane.
He was peaceful day and night also. And bade the passengers to co-operate. To do otherwise would be Islamaphobic.
No flame here. I agree.
Many thanks for this posting, flowerplough.
A Remembrance Ping for Pennsylvania to Trib and Kid.
ping
Beamer was great obviously. But when are we going to start hearing some of the other heroes on that flight?
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