Driving through the beautiful rolling hills of southwestern PA and admiring the colorful barns, I wasn't prepared for spending the next several hours fighting back tears. At a last minute stop at the Visitor's Center in Bedford, PA. I learned of one of our newest National Parks - a Memorial to Flight 93/Sept. 11th - that just opened last September.
A 3 mile road off US30 winds in to the unfinished Memorial site. There are no park services at all - maybe that lead to the quite, somber, sad aura of the place. Everyone seemed to be whispering, if saying anything at all. Most were silently reading the half dozen boards in a small area by the parking lot.
Those of us who brought our cell phones could call 814-619-2065 and dial in the station number. Try putting in station #202 or #203 to get an idea of the comprehensive history presented.
One board showed this photo taken by a farmer minutes after the crash.
A timeline.
There was absolute silence as we studied the faces of the 40 who were senselessly killed.
The Memorial Wall is a quarter of a mile walk from the information area.
The black sloped wall on the left (the edge of the crash debris field) has open areas where visitors can leave objects.
And beyond the wall across the field is a large boulder, placed at the site of the impact with trees beyond it still damaged by the explosion that left a 25 ft hole in the ground.
This part of the Wall has a panel for each person's name.
The names are engraved in black, but Lauren's unborn baby is just engraved in the marble.
The Wall is actually two and from this long end the visitor is sighting exactly down the path the plane came in.
The end of the wall, the crash site beyond - where 40 passengers and crew had the will, bravery and determination to come together and prevent flight 93 from taking so many more lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment