Flight 93

Checking out the quickest way to Gettysburg on mapquest revealed that the Flight 93 crash site from September 11th appeared to be just a short jaunt off the interstate. Once we got near Pittsburgh, after stopping for Starbucks, I asked the guys if we could check it out since we were making good time.

We got off the interstate at Somerset, PA and asked the turn pike attendant how to get to the site and evidently they've been asked this a lot. He pulled a piece of paper with directions on it from a tablet of the same and soon we were heading north until we reached U.S. 30-the old Lincoln Highway. The crash site only now having some directional signage from 30. Once we turned south and started down a narrow, winding road I asked the guys how many people they thought would be there. None was the answer....I speculated maybe twelve. From the winding road we turned east again, this time on what appeared to be a quickly paved drive that began to rise and fall with the terrain. And strangely enough the terrain changed from wooded hilltops and valleys to fairly open fields.

We crested one last hill after which the make-shift memorial and crash site came into view. There was a gravel parking lot with two tour buses and several cars parked, a fenced-in memorial viewing area with random granite monuments, a large fence wall with trinkets left by visitors, two flags, benches and a mobile National Park Service office. Way off in the distance, to the southeast, was a large oblong fenced area with an American flag at its far side facing back toward the observation area. This was the crash site.

Folks were pretty somber around there. Not much talking except for a gentleman/volunteer who gave a little background to how the memorial materialized within a few days after the crash. Evidently people began to wander out into the Pennsylvania countryside around Shanksville looking for the site, and then not knowing really what to look for. A small church in Shanksville (of which the volunteer was a member) decided that they needed to create something near the crash site for people, including a comfort station. This is what turned into the Flight 93 Memorial Observation Area. I often wondered after hearing about this fourth plane, the "what ifs". What if the brave crew and passengers aboard Flight 93 had not tried to overpower the terrorists? What would have been our government's response? Most speculate the intended target was either the Capitol Building or the White House. Would they have succeeded or would it have been shot down?

The fence wall with its many trinkets and scribbled thoughts on various objects reminded me of the Oklahoma City bombing memorial, at least how it materialized after the explosion. I had always thought it so crass for the architect of that memorial to say how trashy the site looked because of it. I was glad to see the Flight 93 site in its present state before a formal memorial is built. It was a true reflection of the raw emotion of mourning and commemoration.