The heroism of airline passengers and crew who died storming the cockpit of Flight 93 has been commemorated with a concrete-and-steel tower that will ring with wind chimes for every one of them at the spot where they fell to earth.
Relatives of the 40 people killed in the terror hijacking on September 11, 2001 attended the tower's dedication ceremony on Sunday at the Flight 93 National Memorial site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
There, they helped ring some of what will eventually be 40 aluminum chimes hung in what has been dubbed the Tower of Voices, one for each of those who died.
Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, who was in office at the time of the attacks, said the memorial will be 'an everlasting concert by our heroes.'
People attending the dedication stand around the 93-foot tall Tower of Voices on Sunday at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania
The tower will contain 40 wind chimes representing the 40 people that perished in the crash of Flight 93 in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
The dedication occurred nearly 17 years after passengers on the hijacked flight from New Jersey to California fought back against a band of terrorists.
Officials concluded the terrorists were aiming the Boeing 757 toward Washington DC, to be used as an enormous airborne weapon against either the White House or the Capitol building in the final of four planned attacks.
But after passengers and crew learned through air phones of the earlier plane attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, they rushed the cockpit, declaring 'let's roll' as they confronted the hijackers inside the plane, forcing them to crash early.
It was 'the day that lives were lost so that other lives were saved. And heroes were made over the skies of Shanksville,' said Ridge, who also served as the first secretary of the Homeland Security Department when it was created after 9/11.
The crash site of Flight 93 is seen on the day after the terror attacks of 9/11. Heroic passengers and crew rushed the plane's cockpit when they realized the hijackers were on a suicide mission
The roughly 93-foot memorial structure represents the final phase of the Flight 93 National Memorial. Each chime generates a distinctive sound, and rows of trees that ring the site symbolize sound waves.
'Together their voices will ring out into perpetuity, with this beautiful Somerset County, Pennsylvania, wind,' park Superintendent Stephen Clark said.
The national park at a the crash site, about two miles north of Shanksville, also includes a memorial plaza, dedicated on the 10th anniversary in 2011, and a visitor's center that opened three years ago.
As a cold, driving rain pelted the hills, memorial architect Paul Murdoch spoke of the plan, which uses the wind to activate the chimes. The remaining chimes are expected to be installed in the coming weeks.
'These chimes respond to unanswered cries of voices not spoken again, but remembered in the vibrations of a monumental tower,' Murdoch said.
They range from five to 10 feet long, weigh as much as 150 pounds and are tuned.
Stephen Clark (right) the Superintendent of the Flight 93 National Memorial addresses the crowd alongside tower architect Paul Murdoch (left); Calvin E. Wilson (center left) brother of First Officer LeRoy Homer; and Tom Ridge, the First U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security
The Tower of Voices stands above visitors, dignitaries and family members of the victims of Flight 93 at the Flight 93 National Memorial on Sunday
Nearly 3,000 people died in the September 11 attacks, when terrorists seized control of four planes.
'These guys are the real heroes,' said retired truck driver Stefan Robbins, visiting the memorial from Lexington, Kentucky. 'They didn't sign up - they're not a cop, they're not a firefighter.'
Thirteen passengers on Flight 93 made a combined 37 phone calls during the attack, getting information about the other three hijackings and crashes.
'When they learned that, it galvanized them as a group,' Clark said. 'They said, 'We're not going back to any airport. This is a suicide mission.''
As some passengers apparently tried to storm the cabin, the hijacker at the controls then rolled the plane, trying to throw them off balance, before the aircraft became inverted and crashed at 563 mph on the edge of a reclaimed strip mine at 10.30am.
The impact ignited about 100 hemlock trees. Hemlocks are used as symbols throughout the memorial's design, including the tower.
Family members of the victims of Flight 93, Calvin Wilson and Gordon Felt Jr., join former Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge (left) as they pull cords attached to the chimes
A 17-ton sandstone marks the impact site, located within a 44-acre fenced-off area of the field where crash debris landed, referred to as the 'sacred ground.'
Access to that part of the park is limited to family members of the passengers and crew. Four 40-foot containers of remaining debris from the crashed airplane were buried there during a private ceremony on June 21.
The memorial was funded with $46 million from 110,000 private donors, including $6 million to design and build the Tower of Voices.
Volunteers are well on their way to the goal of planting 150,000 seedlings around the 2,200 acre park. It attracted about 400,000 visitors last year.
The dedication comes two days before the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
President Donald Trump is expected to attend that memorial ceremony Tuesday in Shanksville, along with Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
Link hienalouca.comhttps://hienalouca.com/2018/09/10/flight-93-memorial-tower-honors-9-11-victims-in-pennsylvania/
Main photo article The heroism of airline passengers and crew who died storming the cockpit of Flight 93 has been commemorated with a concrete-and-steel tower that will ring with wind chimes for every one of them at the spot where they fell to earth.
Relatives of the 40 people killed in the terror hijacking on ...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/09/09/23/4FF34E2A00000578-6148161-image-a-1_1536530617685.jpg
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий