Southwestern PA honors 20th anniversary of 9/11

Trenton Farley, 15, joins other members of the Pine-Richland/Mars Area U.S. Air Force JROTC in planting American flags along Route 228 in front of Mars Area High School on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021. The group of 39 students organized 2,977 flags in neat rows to represent “the number of people who lost their souls” in the attacks of 9/11, said Major Michael Morrison, JROTC instructor. The number does not include the terrorists who died that day, he said. O’Rourke is a 9th grader at Mars. (Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette)
Chalk artist Erica LuBer, from Allentown, Pa., works on a chalk portrait of Colleen Fraser, from Elizabeth, N.J., who was one of the 40 passengers and crew who perished on Flight 93, outside the Flight 93 National Memorial on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021, in Shanksville, Pa., as the nation prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. A group of 11 chalk artists from around the country worked on the forty portraits for two days outside the Flight 93 National Memorial. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Chalk artist Erica LuBer, center, from Allentown, Pa., works on a chalk portrait of Colleen Fraser, from Elizabeth, NJ., who was one of the 40 passengers and crew who perished on Flight 93, outside the Flight 93 National Memorial on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021, in Shanksville, Pa., as the nation prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. A group of 11 chalk artists from around the country worked on the forty portraits for two days outside the Flight 93 National Memorial. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Jennifer Nelson of Chattanooga, Tennessee, helps her daughter Evelyn, 4, walk down the stairs in front of the Soldiers and Sailers Memorial Hall under a display of 7,053 dog tags suspended across the walkway recognizing the fallen service members from the War on Terrorism on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021, in Oakland. (Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette)
A display of 7,053 dog tags suspended across a walkway in front of Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall recognizing the fallen service members from the War on Terrorism photographed on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021, in Oakland. Taps will be sounded at the memorial at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 11, 2021. The memorial is free to visit through Sept. 30th. (Andrew Rush/Post-Gazette)
Firefighters on a cross country trip to Ground Zero in New York City bicycle along Ohio River Boulevard near Emsworth on their way to Pittsburgh on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021. The effort, called Bay2Brooklyn2021, honors firefighters and others who died in the attacks of 9/11. The group, comprised mostly of firefighters from Santa Clara, CA., departed the San Francisco area on Aug. 1 and plan to arrive in New York on Sept. 9, said organizer Darrell Sales, a retired Santa Clara firefighter. They’ll be at Ground Zero to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the attacks. Ten riders form the core of the group, though other firefighters join for shorter legs of the journey. Four Pittsburgh firefighters — one active and three retired — rode from Ambridge to the city, Sales said. (Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette)
After the ceremony at the Flight 93 National Memorial on Saturday, August 21, 2021, active and retired members of the New York City Fire Department – with some assist from their colleagues at the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department near the memorial – unfurled a 75-foot-long, by 6-foot-high sign that was made by FDNY members two days after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. This sign hung on a building across the street from the World Trade Center towers site for seven months after 9/11. (Sean D. Hamill/Post-Gazette)
People, including New York City firefighters and Shanksville volunteer firefighters visit the boulder that marks the impact site of Flight 93 at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stoystown, Saturday, August 21, 2021. Their visit was part of the “Never Forget Walk” led by Frank Siller to benefit Tunnel to Towers, which raises money for families of fallen first responders, severely injured service members, and Gold Star families. (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)
Patrick White, cousin of Louis Nacke II, a passenger of Flight 93, places a rose at the base of the Wall of Names, which is inscribed with the 40 names of the passengers and crew of Flight 93, at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stoystown, Saturday, August 21, 2021. (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)
Patrick White, cousin of Louis Nacke II, a passenger of Flight 93, and Stephen Clark, superintendent of National Parks of Western Pennsylvania, explain how the memorial’s design reflects the flight path to Frank Siller, CEO of Tunnel to Towers, as they visit the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stoystown, Saturday, August 21, 2021. The visit was part of the “Never Forget Walk” led by Mr. Siller to benefit the foundation he started in honor of his brother Stephen Siller, a firefighter who died on 9/11. (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)
Frank Siller, right, CEO of Tunnel to Towers, a foundation he started in honor of his brother Stephen Siller, a firefighter who died on 9/11, greets a park ranger at the end of the portion of his “Never Forget Walk” that went from the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company in Shanksville to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stoystown, Saturday, August 21, 2021. During the “Never Forget Walk” Mr. Siller walks from Washington, D.C., to New York City to honor first responders and raise money to benefit families of fallen first responders, severely injured service members, and Gold Star families. (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)
People walk from the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company in Shanksville to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stoystown as part of the “Never Forget Walk”, Saturday, August 21, 2021. (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)
Judy Hutchinson, a lifelong resident of Shanksville, records from her yard as a group of people including firefighters from Shanksville and New York City walk from the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company in Shanksville to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stoystown, Saturday, August 21, 2021. (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)
Frank Siller, second from right in the front, CEO of Tunnel to Towers, a foundation he started in honor of his brother Stephen Siller, a firefighter who died on 9/11, participates in a prayer before embarking on a portion of his “Never Forget Walk” from the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Company in Shanksville to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stoystown, Saturday, August 21, 2021. During the “Never Forget Walk” Mr. Siller walks from Washington, D.C., to New York City to honor first responders and raise money for his foundation, which benefits families of fallen first responders, severely injured service members, and Gold Star families. (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)
Former Air Force fighter pilot Heather Penney, who was sent of a mission to take down Flight 93 on September 11, 2001 by any means necessary, speaks during an event sponsored by the Military Community Support Project and the Veterans Breakfast Club at the Senator John Heinz History Center, Saturday, August 7, 2021, in the Strip District. (Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette)
A visitor photographs the Wall of Names at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County on July 27, 2021. The path behind her follows the flight’s path on Sept, 11, 2001. A boulder marks the impact site. .(Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette)
Late afternoon sunlight shines through an opening in the Wall of Names at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County on July 27, 2021. Panels on the wall are inscribed with the names of those killed by terrorists on United Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001. (Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette)
Abby Teare of Cleveland holds daughter Marjorie, 2 months, at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County on July 27, 2021. At left is husband and father Ethan Teare. (Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette)
National Park Ranger Robert Franz describes to visitors the events of 9/11 at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County on July 27, 2021. (Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette)