Flight 93 Memorial Dedication To Take Place Today

The official memorial for Flight 93, which crashed in Pennslyvania on 9/11/2001, is being dedicated today. The site is where forty passengers and crew members fought back against the terrorist who hijacked their plane. Read more after the jump.

@Julie1205

Cars began to line up hours before the dedication of the Flight 93 memorial Saturday as the sun started to peek out among the clouds and signs and flags lining the route to the memorial honored the heroes of Sept. 11.

By 11:33 a.m. ET officials were saying there were too many cars to handle. They stretched for more than a mile along Route 30 where vendors sold American flags to visitors stuck in traffic.

A sign at Castagna’s Restaurant read “God bless the heroes of Flight 93.” Families and children stood almost in parade formation waving flags.

Harry Kramer had braved the washed-out roads, steady drizzle and mile-long backups on muddy roads Friday. He wanted to pay his respect to the victims of Flight 93.

He will be at the site again Saturday to see the unveiling of the first phase of the permanent Flight 93 National Memorial that has been 10 years in the making. And he’ll be here Sunday, when the 10th Commemorative Memorial Service is held.

“I’m glad to see it,” said Kramer, who lives near Philadelphia. “It’s a great tribute to the people who were on the flight.”

Forty passengers and crewmembers on United Flight 93 died on Sept. 11, 2001, when they fought back terrorists who were planning to slam the plane into a Washington, D.C., landmark — possibly the U.S. Capitol or the White House.

Kramer’s second cousin Lorraine Bay, 58, was a flight attendant on that flight.

The cockpit voice recorder captured the last 30 minutes before the plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Three terrorists overtook the cockpit at about 9:28 a.m. on Sept. 11 after about 46 minutes of routine flight from Newark to San Francisco.

Using airphones, passengers and crew who were forced to the back of the plane began making calls to report the hijacking. They learned about the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center and realized they were part of a much larger terrorist plot. They voted to fight back.

According to the 9/11 Commission Report, at 10:02 a.m., a hijacker said, “Pull it down! Pull it down!” The airplane headed down and the control wheel was turned hard to the right. “The airplane rolled onto its back, and one of the hijackers began shouting ‘Allah is the greatest. Allah is the greatest.’ With the sounds of the passenger counterattack continuing, the aircraft plowed into an empty field … at 580 miles per hour.”

Barbara Brownewell, 59, did not know anyone on the plane. But she came with her husband, William, from Newville, Pa., about 120 miles away. As she stood at the fence adorned with flags, roses and wreaths and looked beyond the media satellite trucks crowding the field near the crash site, she sobbed.

“I just feel for everybody,” she said.

William Brownewell, 63, a retired truck driver, who saw the 9/11 carnage at the World Trade Center and at the Pentagon, wanted to see this site.

“We should’ve done more to protect ourselves,” he says. “I still think we’re letting too many foreigners come in.”

The first phase of the memorial dedication today includes a viewing plaza, where visitors can get within 100 yards of the area where the airplane crashed. Only family members can enter the fenced-off crash site. The Wall of Names, marble engraved with the names of the 40 passengers and crew, will be unveiled.

Up to 7,000 people are expected today and Sunday — including almost 800 family members coming from as far away as Japan. It is the only 9/11 site to be open to the general public during the ceremonies. Memorials at Ground Zero and at the Pentagon are by invitation only.

“For the first time in 10 years, the public will be able to get within a few feet of this area and not be so far away,” says King Laughlin, vice president of the Flight 93 National Memorial Campaign. “It’s really important to create their own emotional bond to this place.”

Being so close is “overwhelming,” says Gordon Felt, president of the Families of Flight 93, whose brother Edward Porter Felt died in the crash.

The next phase of the memorial will include a visitor center and Tower of Voices, a 93-foot chamber containing 40 cylindrical wind chimes ?– each representing a Flight 93 victim. The plan is to include audio testimonials by relatives of the dead and first responders to the crash scene and an exhibit of artifacts from the plane and items left by visitors at the temporary memorial, about half a mile from the crash site.

When the memorial is finished, it will include 40 groves of 40 trees planted over 2,200 acres.

A transcript of the cockpit voice recording is at the memorial. The voice of of one of the hijackers is heard ordering passengers to stay put. People believe the killing of one of the passengers or crew member can be heard.

What also can be heard is one of the most famous sound bites of the tragic event, one that has come to symbolize Americans’ determination to fight terrorism.

Passenger Todd Beamer, helping to lead a passenger takeover was heard over the in-flight telephone saying: “Let’s roll!”

The plane crashed shortly after.

The Flight 93 National Memorial Campaign has raised $52 million in public and private funds so far and another $10 million is needed to complete the project.

Former president George W. Bush will speak at the dedication and will join Vice President Biden and Flight 93 families. Also attending today will be former first lady Laura Bush, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett. Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Sarah McLachlan will perform.

“This memorial is still not completed,” Laughlin says. “This weekend, we’ll be reminded of that. It’s really going to open eyes and hopefully open doors for us in terms of continued support.”
USAtoday