{"id":24068,"date":"2021-09-10T16:31:24","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T20:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/?p=24068"},"modified":"2021-09-10T16:31:24","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T20:31:24","slug":"20-years-in-photos-the-flight-93-memorial-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/2021\/09\/10\/20-years-in-photos-the-flight-93-memorial-site\/","title":{"rendered":"20 years in photos: The Flight 93 Memorial Site"},"content":{"rendered":"

A look back at the last twenty years at the Flight 93 Memorial crash site through 50 photos.<\/p>\n

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Emergency crews respond to the scene of an airplane crash Tuesday morning, Sept. 11, 2001, near Shanksville, Somerset County. A United Airlines Boeing 757 traveling from Newark, N.J. to San Francisco, Calif. crashed into a field. There were no survivors. (Dave Escherch\/Daily American)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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This file image of the smoke cloud left by United Flight 93 after it crashed in a field in Somerset County near Shanksville, on Sept.11, 2001, was taken by Val McClatchey from the porch of her nearby home. (AP Photo\/FILE\/Val McClatchey)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Gov. Tom Ridge walks toward the tent to address the media after examining the crash site of Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, near Shanksville. (Darrell Sapp\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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FBI investigators comb the crater left by the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 on Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2001, near Shanksville. The plane crashed about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh after first flying near Cleveland and then turning around. (Gene J. Puskar\/Associated Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Friedens Elementary School sits along Route 281, which is traveled by police, FBI and other investigators on their way to the United Flight 93 crash site in Somerset County. Students, like these first graders looking out of the window on Sept. 14, 2001, decorated the building homemade flags to show their support. Family members traveling to the site will pass the building. (Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Kindergarten students Jordan Custer, left, and Brady Gilbert pledged the flag and sang “God Bless America” with their fellow students at Friedens Elementary School, not far from the crash site of United Flight 93 in Somerset County, on Friday, Sept, 14, 2001. Students at the school, which sits on a road heavily traveled by investigators at the site, was decorated in flags. (Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Somerset County coroner Wallace Miller and wife Arlene O’Toole, a deputy coroner, work together on Friday, Oct. 12, 2001, in a small officer crowded with files and paperwork related to the United Flight 93 crash. (Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Dan Strimlan, a Trax Farms employee, heads back to his truck after helping co-workers erect a nine-foot three inch wreath at the Flight 93 memorial on Dec. 21, 2001, near Shanksville, Somerset County. The wreath, which has 40 doves on it, one for each person who died in the crash, was erected at the memorial near the crash site. (John Beale\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A wreath displaying photos of the victims lies near the memorial for Flight 93 on July 4, 2002, near Shanksville. (Andy Starnes\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A \u201cLiving Flag\u201d consisting of 273 people wearing red, white, or blue t-shirts forming the stars & stripes moves up Main Street in Shanksville on July 4, 2002. (Andy Starnes\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Rick Kettell, air traffic manager of Cleveland Air Traffic Control Center, talks Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2002, in Oberlin, Ohio about the flight path of United Airlines Flight 93, that crashed on Sept. 11, 2001. (Tony Dejak\/Associated Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The sun begins to set as visitors look at the memorial to the victims of United Flight 93 near the crash site near Shanksville, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2002. A week later marked the one year anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks. Pilots from across the nation gathered Thursday to honor the victims of hijacked United Flight 93. (Gary Tramontina\/Associated Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Attendees listen attentively during a memorial service for victims of United Flight 93 near Shanksville, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2002. (Gene J. Puskar\/Associated Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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President Bush is joined by first lady Laura Bush as they lay a wreath at a memorial site where Flight 93 crashed a year before, Wednesday, Sept.11, 2002, near Shanksville. Some of the 40 passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 are believed to have fought their hijackers and perhaps caused the plane to crash in a field near Shanksville. (Doug Mills\/Associated Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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United Airlines flight attendants carry flowers to a memorial service for those killed on United Flight 93 on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2002, near Shanksville. The service was held on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Several United attendants and pilots based in Newark, NJ, attended the service. Flight 93 originated in Newark. (Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sgt. Gerald Strittmatter of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, Site Support Element, Johnstown, PA, reads notes left at the temporary memorial to the passengers of United Flight 93 shortly before a memorial service on the first anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks, Sept. 11, 2002, near Shanksville. (Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Alice Hoglan, whose son Marc Bingham was killed in the Flight 93 crash, walks up the hill to the temporary memorial site of the crash on Sept. 11, 2002, near Shanksville. Hoglan and other family members of victims attended a ceremony to mark the one year anniversary of the crash. (Annie O’Neill\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Somerset County coroner Wallace Miller photographed on Sept. 30, 2002, near Shanksville. He acted as a caretaker for the site where Flight 93 crashed on Sept. 11 and wanted to see the ground consecrated as a memorial. (Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Second from left, Ret. Army Col. Ray Waity salutes a special Flight 93 flag unfurled hourly on the second anniversary of 9\/11, Sept. 11, 2003, near Shanksville. (Martha Rial\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Yachiyo Kuge, of Osaka, Japan, mother of Flight 93 passenger Toshiya Kuge, is comforted by Karen Castel of Johnstown, at the temporary memorial site to the Flight 93 victims on Sept. 11, 2005, near Shanksville. (Andy Starnes\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visits the temporary Flight 93 memorial on March 27, 2006, near Shanksville. \u201cThis place marks where America really started to fight back,\u201d Mr. Rumsfeld said. (V.W.H. Campbell\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Tom Henschke of Mechanicsburg pauses to reflect at the temporary memorial for Flight 93 on Sept. 12, 2006, near Shanksville. He said about why he came the day following September 11th, “I wanted something more private than yesterday. It was much busier then.” He continued about Sept. 11, “It felt like the sky was falling around us, with no rhyme or reason. It’s terrifying.\u201d (Alyssa Cwanger\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Kathy Reid of New Alexander, and Donna Warren of Indiana County, arrange a pot of flowers with flags and a message at the temporary site of the Flight 93 Memorial , relocated during construction on May 2, 2011, near Shanksville. Both said that their hearts go out to the victims and their families and that they hope the death of Bin Laden gives the families some closure. Several people came to pay respects to the passengers of Flight 93 and because of the news of the death of Bin Laden. (Darrell Sapp\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Jeff Ray of Shanksville, Pa., visits the temporary memorial to United Flight 93 near Shanksville, Monday, May 2, 2011. Osama bin Laden, the face of global terrorism and architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was killed in a firefight with elite American forces in Pakistan on Monday, May 2, 2011 then quickly buried at sea. (Gene J. Puskar\/Associated Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Park Ranger Wendy Clay removes items from the Flight 93 temporary memorial to be archived on July 19, 2011, near Shanksville. The Flight 93 National Memorial has collected artifacts from the temporary memorial since shortly after 9\/11. (Michael Henninger\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Ron Filicky of Shade Township, reads from the Bible at the Flight 93 Chapel outside of Shanksville near Friedens on July 24, 2011. Former priest Alphonse Mascherino started the chapel which was dedicated in September 2002. (Bill Wade\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Members of the Fire & Iron Motorcycle Club take turns getting their photographs taken in front of a steel memorial cross made from scrap from the World Trade Center bearing the date 09\/11\/01 at the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Station on Friday, Sept. 9, 2011. The motorcycle club, which stopped near Shanksville en route to New York City, features members who are mostly firefighters from across the country. (Michael Henninger\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Former President George W. Bush, with wife Laura, former President Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden and wife Jill, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at the Flight 93 Memorial wall shortly before its unveiling on Sept. 10, 2011, near Shanksville. (Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Attendees watch during the Flight 93 Memorial official dedication ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011, near Shanksville. (Michael Henninger\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Family members gather at the actual site of the crash, marked by a boulder, after the Flight 93 Memorial official dedication ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011. (Michael Henninger\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Shane Fenstermaker whose aunt was Loraine G. Bay, a stewardess on Flight 93, watches the Flight 93 Memorial official dedication ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011, near Shanksville. The tattoo on his neck is in remembrance of his aunt. (Michael Henninger\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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People stand silhouetted against the Flight 93 Memorial Wall on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011. (Michael Henninger\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama walk into the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pa. on September 11, 2011. (Andrew Rush\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Fifth and sixth grade students from Pitt’s Fanny Edel Falk Laboratory School fill out activities during a field test of the National Park Service’s educational booklet for young people visiting the Flight 93 National Memorial on Thursday, May 2, 2013l. The crash site is in the background. (Bob Donaldson\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Patrick White, vice president of Families of Flight 93, nails a stake into the ground as Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell holds it steady to mark the exterior of the new Flight 93 Memorial Visitor Center during its groundbreaking ceremony in Shanksville, Pa. on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013. (Michael Henninger\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sheila Martinez and her boyfriend Darrell Respass, both of Connecticut, look over the photographs of those killed on Flight 93 during the Flight 93 National Memorial Visitor Center Complex Dedication on Sept. 10, 2015. Martinez’s aunt Waleska Martinez was aboard Flight 93. (Michael Henninger\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Lance Sturni, a board member of Friends of Flight 93, left, and his wife Suzanne Sturni, center, walk through the Flight 93 National Memorial Visitor Center Complex during its dedication on Sept. 10, 2015. (Michael Henninger\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Family, friends, volunteers and attendees gather at the Flight 93 Memorial Wall after a luminary ceremony for the victims of Flight 93 on Sept. 10, 2015. (Michael Henninger\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A solo observer is silhouetted against the evening sky as dusk falls on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017, the eve of 9\/11 at the Flight 93 National Memorial visitor’s center near Shanksville. (Stephanie Strasburg\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Families of those killed on Flight 93 and National Park Service employees carry 40 candle lanterns, one for each crew member and passenger lost, to the Wall of Names on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017 at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville. The lanterns were placed below each of the names remembered at the memorial, part of the 16th anniversary remembrances for those lost at the site on 9\/11.(Stephanie Strasburg\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A visitor touches the map of the Flight 93 Memorial grounds as they walk in to the site’s 9\/11 remembrance ceremony on Monday, Sept. 11, 2017, near Shanksville. (Stephanie Strasburg\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Everett Lata, left, 13, and his sister Ellie, right, 12, of Saylorsburg, place flowers by the name of their great grandmother Hilda Marcin along the Wall of Names on Monday, Sept. 11, 2017 at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville. “It’s truly something special,” said Everett of visiting the site. “I hope that nothing like this would ever happen again,” said Ellie. (Stephanie Strasburg\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Tower of Voices is under construction at the Flight 93 National Memorial on Tuesday, July 10, 2018, near Shanksville. The 93-foot tall musical instrument holds forty wind chimes that honor the forty passengers and crew members. (Andrew Rush\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Tower of Voices is under construction at the Flight 93 National Memorial on Tuesday, July 10, 2018, near Shanksville. The 93-foot tall musical instrument holding forty wind chimes that honor the forty passengers and crew members will be dedicated on Sept. 9. (Andrew Rush\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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First lady Melania Trump and President Donald Trump look out across the Flight 93 National Memorial on the 17th anniversary observance of the 9\/11 attack, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018, near Shanksville. (Andrew Rush\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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State police officers at the 17th anniversary observance of the 9\/11 attack ceremony at the Flight 93 National Memorial on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018, near Shanksville. (Andrew Rush\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Marianne Saulsburg, of the Swisshelm Park neighborhood in Pittsburgh, looks through the glass at displays in the closed Visitor Center at the “Flight 93 National Memorial”, Wednesday Jan. 2, 2019, near Shanksville. Signs were posted on all doors stating that the National Memorial Facilities are closed due to \u201ca lapse in federal appropriations\u201d and that the grounds are open from sunrise to sunset. (Darrell Sapp\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden, right, places his hand on the back of Calvin Wilson, brother-in-law of LeRoy Homer, Jr., who was a co-pilot of hijacked Flight 93, after he placed a wreath at the panel on The Wall of Names dedicated to Mr. Homer at the Flight 93 National Memorial, Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, near Shanksville. (Alexandra Wimley\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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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)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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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, Saturday, August 21, 2021, near Shanksville. (Alexandra Wimley\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A look back at the last twenty years at the Flight 93 Memorial crash site through 50 photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":24072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[203,7,152,501,9,399,4,15,180,205,132],"tags":[],"coauthors":[55],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/09\/SS_20Shanksville02-1.jpg?fit=2000%2C1536&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24068"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24068"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24122,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24068\/revisions\/24122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24068"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/photos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=24068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}