Recent Event Photographs
2020 Fall Foliage Cruise to the Flight 93 National Memorial
On Sunday October 11th seventeen members of our Chesapeake Region travelled to the western Pennsylvania town of Shanksville to visit the Flight 93 National Memorial. The beautiful scenery of the brilliant fall colors stood in stark contrast to the ugly tragedy that occured here on September 11, 2001.
Visitors study a relief map of the premises to better understand the layout of the very large Flight 93 National Memorial site.
A purposeful, rather stark walkway leads visitors to the indoor displays of the Visitor's Center.
Similarly, small subdued lettering identifies the National Memorial Visitor Center.
Outside, a National Park Guide addressed the gathering visitors and, to prevent crowding, allowed phased entry in small groups of ten.
Elaborate displays inside told the tragic story of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United Sates of America, and the part United Airlines Flight 93 played in that attack.
Just moments after the crew received a radioed warning: "Beware any cockpit intrusion" the aircraft cabin was breached by the terorists and the hijacking began.
The sheer force of the Flight 93 aircraft crash impact left few large pieces of wreckage.
The FBI began a massive investigation of the September 11, 2001 events: its origins, architects and participants.
The "Heroic and Noble Action" taken by the 40 men and women aboard Flight 93, who in attempting to take back control of the hijacked airliner from the terrorists, obviously prevented them from achieving their apparent goal of crashing it into The U.S Capitol building or the White House in Washington, DC.
A visitor studies the display of photographs of the unfortunate 40 passengers and crew aboard United Airlines Flight 93 that fateful day.
Plain slab concrete walls define the somber nature of the National Memorial amid a wide expense of green fields.
An expansive, curving walkway lined with trees outlines the area of the National Memorial property.
Looking back from the curving walkway toward the Visitor Center.
Also on the National Memorial site is the permanent memorial: Tower of Voices.
The Tower of Voices serves as both a visual and audible memorial to the heroism of the forty passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93.
Symbolically it stands ninety-three feet tall, holds forty wind chimes, and is designed to produce forty tones (voices).
An impromptu flower memorial adorns the Tower of Voices memorial site.
The wind was rather calm on the day of our visit so no tones (voices) of the 40 wind chimes were heard.
Many of the Chesapeake Region visitors gather for a group photograph before departing for lunch at a nearby restaurant and the trip home.