9/11, United Flight 93, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania
9/11, United Flight 93, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania
I have accumulated a lot of images of the memorials to 9/11 and United Flight 93 in Shanksville over the years.
Here are a few of them for your contemplation as we move one year farther away from that dreadful day and closer still to the oblivion that is perhaps the fate of all memory in a society like this one.
[From the temporary memorial near the crash site that stood for the first ten years after 9/11. These are the Angel Patriots after which I titled my book.]
[A remarkable homemade flag left at the temporary memorial site and gathered up by Parks and Recreation for their collection. The vast amount of material in their collection, all of which was left over the years by visitors to the temporary memorial, is a testimony to the emotional reaction of many who visited the site.]
[The message board that went up at a police line in Shanksville to keep people away from the crash site, where many left messages of thanks and prayers for the heroes on the plane. It was eventually donated to the Flight 93 Chapel.]
[My friend, the late, great Father Alphonse Mascherino, founder of the Thunder on the Mountain Flight 93 Chapel, addressing a crowd there on September 11th, 2011.]
[A moving memento left to the Chapel by a former Marine.]
[Performance by the North Star Kids at the Flight 93 Chapel. They came from Pittsburgh to give a musical biographical presentation on each of Flight 93’s 40 passengers and crew members.]
[Part of a wall of marble slabs bearing the names of passengers and crew at the permanent memorial, guarding the crash site.]
[Thunder on the Mountain Flight 93 Chapel during an annual commemoration.]
[The huge stone marking the crash site at the permanent memorial. It sits off at a distance, behind a barrier. There is a door permitting access to family members of those who were on the plane. No one else is allowed to approach closer than the point where I stood to take this photo. It is sacred ground.]