by The Flight 93 National Memorial is in Stonycreek Township, Penn., (about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh) at the site where Flight 93 crashed after being highjacked by four terrorists on September 11, 2001. It’s obviously a somber, reflective site, and even though we all know what happened that day, it is hard not to feel emotional when looking at the exhibits and walking the grounds.
There is a small exhibit at the site, which walks through the timeline of the day, with two planes flying into the Twin Towers and another crashing into the Pentagon. As the monitor shows clips from morning talk shows with their “breaking news”, you are brought right back to that morning when you slowly transition from thoughts about a “terrible accident” to “deliberate attack”.
The exhibit then moves to the focus of this site, Flight 93, whose passengers had learned what happened elsewhere and decided to take matters into their own hands. By far the most emotional part of the exhibit is where you can listen to the voicemails that passengers left their loved ones, trying not to panic the recipient but also leaving final messages of love, and in one case the combination to the safe in the house. I couldn’t stop crying while listening.
After the exhibit, you step outside and follow the flight path to an overlook to see the field where the plane went down. All 40 passengers and crew died, but the actions of these few saved untold numbers of lives, as this was the only hijacked plane not to reach its target. Then, walk down to a memorial marble Wall of Names, and walk very near the site of impact, now marked by a boulder.
The Flight 93 National Memorial opened September 10, 2015.
