Memorial In a Pennsylvania Field
Our vacation out east started with a stop at the Flight 93 Memorial
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Jeff and I first visited the Flight 93 memorial during the summer of 2013 as we traveled to Gettysburg to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. At the time, the National Park Service was in the first stage of development, and Memorial Plaza was the only constructed portion of the site. We walked along the Plaza Walkway, built along the quarter-mile long crash site, to the Wall of Names, where we found the names of every single person who sacrificed their lives to prevent further disaster in Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001. The experience of visiting the memorial over ten years after the attacks was a somber reminder of how much our lives had changed and the human cost that led to that change.
When we made plans to go to Gettysburg for part of our summer vacation, I twisted my family’s arms to persuade them that we should make the stop at the memorial, even though Jeff and I had already been there once. Our son had recently read Alan Gratz’s book Ground Zero, which beautifully depicts the complexities of that day and the war in Afghanistan that followed. Over several anniversaries, both kids had asked questions about what we remembered about that day. And I knew that they had added to the site and wanted our children to understand a significant part of their parents’, and their country’s, history.
Since we had the camper and the dogs with us, we had to make some decisions regarding just how much we would do at the memorial in the middle of the summer. We headed straight for the Visitor Center and parked in the crowded parking lot, thankful that there were still RV parking spots available. We started the generator and turned on the AC in our bedroom so that the dogs would be safe for about an hour and then walked over to the Visitor Center. The Visitor Center walkway gives the timeline for the morning of September 11, including the times that each of the four planes crashed and where they crashed. Inside of the beautiful new visitor center, the museum includes a full breakdown of the events leading up the September 11, discussion of the morning of (including news clips playing on repeat), and artifacts that were found in the field as investigators put together their own pieces of the puzzle.
The museum portion is both stunning and heartbreaking. There are displays where you can listen to the recorded phone calls that some of the 40 passengers made to their loved ones at home. There are letters and cards from children that were sent to the crash site. And then there are the belongings that were left behind in the wreckage. It told the story of 9-11 in ways that we could never explain to our children, because there are just so many stories within that story.
We left the Visitor Center and walked out to the overlook, which gives a stunning view of the crash site and Memorial Plaza. We had already decided that we couldn’t make another vehicle stop to the plaza and the hike would take too long for our dogs. Also, the Pennsylvania ticks were out in full force, and we decided that it would be best if we didn’t put all six of us (dogs included) at risk for searching for ticks for the next week.
On our way out we stopped at the Tower of Voices, the final piece of the memorial which was finally finished in 2020. The stunning tower of wind chimes were not fully active (it was a pretty calm day) but the structure itself is both beautiful, and according to the audio recording we listened to, soulful when fully activated.
Our two hour stop, which included a picnic lunch, was a worthwhile pause to honor the fallen, remember our past, and teach our own children about the events that shaped their own futures. While the GPS then had us wandering all over Pennsylvania and through Maryland before we finally arrived in Gettysburg, I’m glad we made the stop.
For my reflections on memorials, read “Why Memorials Matter.”
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What a stunning memorial. I've never seen pictures before. Thank you!