9/11 A Decade Later: Flight 93 Memorial Draws 1.4M Visitors To Rural PA

The National September 11th Memorial in Lower Manhattan that is set to open this September has been in the center of many high-profile contentious debates, but another important September 11th memorial in Pennsylvania is in the works. NY1's Bobby Cuza filed the following report.

In Somerset County, Pennsylvania stands a cross made of steel from the World Trade Center, which reminds onlookers of the connection the small town of Shanksville has with the events of September 11, 2001.



A cross in Shankville made of steel from the World Trade Center. A field in the town is where United Flight 93 crashed after passengers battled hijackers for control of the plane. All 40 passengers and crew members were killed after the hijackers deliberately crashed the plane.

“When the plane crashed here, it was only 15 minutes by air to Washington, D.C.,” says Flight 93 Site Manager Jeff Reinbold.

Reinbold's mission is to create a fitting national memorial on the 2,000-acre field.

“We felt very strongly that this design needed to be about this place and that this place was very different that New York or Washington, D.C.," says Reinbold.

Though only a temporary memorial exists now, longtime site volunteer Marlin Miller says it has not stopped over 1.4 million people from visiting.

“It’s been a sense of honor that we are able to extend hospitality, and to volunteer and to welcome people,” says Miller.



A plan for the Flight 93 Memorial. Click to enlarge. When the $60 million first phase of the memorial is complete this September, visitors will be able walk along the flight path and read the names of the 40 victims inscribed on marble walls.

“The remains of the passengers and crew are still here. They are on site," says Reinbold. “We treat the crash site as a cemetery that’s not open to the public, but the public will have the chance to get right up against the edge of it.”

Eventually, the Flight 93 National Memorial will also feature a visitors and education center, memorial groves and a 93-feet-tall tower to honor the victims killed that day.

The project is expected to be complete in 2014.