Flight 93 National Memorial; Stoystown, PA

Over the weekend, I visited the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stoystown, PA. The memorial is situated at the crash site of Flight 93, one of four commercial airliners hijacked on September 11, 2001.

The crash site at this otherwise serene, rural area, is the result of passengers and crew who tried to recapture the airliner. The passenger and crews' ill-fated attempt to recapture the airliner cost the lives of all on-board. But their efforts saved many more, preventing the hijackers from reaching their intended target: the Capital Building in Washington D.C..

I have visited other memorials in the past, including 9/11 Memorial in New York, which projects the sheer scale of the tragedy onto the visitor, but for some reason I found this particular memorial the most eerie and sad. As for the reasons, I can only speculate.

The pathway to the memorial. The white marble Wall of Names can be seen in the distance to the right of the walkway. To the left, a black stone wall runs along the walkway which marks the boundary of the debris field.


 

At two points along the black boundary wall, tokens of remembrance for the victims are left behind.

The Wall of Names, which runs along the direction of the flight path, terminating at the debris field just opposite the large wooden gate in the background.

The impact site is directly opposite this large wooden gate. In the distance, a large boulder is visible through the center of the gate, which marks the relative location of the impact site. There is not trace of the 40-foot deep crater that was once here as a result of the violent impact of Flight 93.

The debris field. The boulder marking the impact site can be seen just left of the white marble wall.