Flight 93 National Memorial

[Mike Buckley]

United Airlines Flight 93 was hijacked on September 11, 2001. Most people believe the hijackers intended to crash the airplane into either the White House or the U.S. Capitol Building. The plane crashed instead in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. That's because passengers, having realized that they were probably going to die in a crash, caused enough disruption to crash the plane in a rural area, thus saving the lives of the people at the hijackers' intended target.

All of the passengers and crew remain buried in the crash site's debris field. A national memorial including a visitor center, memorial plaza and the preserved debris field is one of the two most sobering places I have ever visited. The photos shown below were captured on the memorial plaza.

Photo #1
The name of each passenger and crew member is engraved on a stone slab. Passenger Todd Beamer was on the telephone with an Airfone customer service representative because he couldn't reach his pregnant wife and wanted to leave a message for her. He and the representative said the Lord's Prayer at his request, after which the representative heard him say to others on the plane, "Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll." He and others then caused enough disruption that the plane crashed in the field. His widow later wrote the book, Let's Roll.

The building in the distant background is the visitor center. It includes an outdoor overlook (the dark area at the base of the opening) that provides a view of the memorial plaza and the debris field.




Photos #2 and #3
The presentation indicating Lauren Grandcolas's unborn child is poignant, creative and highly effective. The photos in this thread were captured on September 1, 2017. Lauren Grandcolas would have been 54 the previous day. Immediately after reviewing the wall of stone slabs, I went into a small building also on the plaza where note cards written by visitors were pinned to a cloth-covered board. One of the cards was devoted to the memory of Lauren on her birthday.

[Shadowman]

Interesting series.

[Rita]

Within these images and commentary you have portrayed the sobering experience. Sept 11, 2001 will always be remembered.