EMMA CONWAY

Even on a random day in the middle of the week, the Flight 93 memorial is crowded with people both young and old. Not only that, but nearly every single person there was respectful of the space and seemed willing to learn of the tragedy that happened. This respect and dedication to remember the people impacted by 9-11 is mirrored by the employees at the memorial. Each is helpful and quick to provide you with not only information on the site, but also their own personal stories and connections with the land.

VICTORIA PETERSON

This was my second year going to the Flight 93 memorial and each time I went it was a much different experience. Each time there were different stories that were shared. It is crazy to know how many stories there really are, some that anyone can personally relate to, which makes it all the more sad. We are learning new stuff about this time in history years afterwards. On this most recent visit, I learned a story about a woman living where the crash happened. Flight 93 crashed in her backyard and then her property became a government site at that moment. Her life changed in minutes. It took a lot of convincing and agreements to be able to go to her own house. Once she got in she could not leave as her house for nearly two weeks while the investigation took place. She is now one of the many dedicated volunteers at the memorial. This whole story about how one woman’s life changed because history happened in her backyard is simply hard to imagine.

JACKSON WARUSZEWSKI

For being such a solemn, sacred place, the Flight 93 Memorial is also an interesting, enjoyable place. Throughout the trip, many different things stuck with me, but the things that I can’t seem to forget are the recordings of the phone calls that were made from Flight 93 that visitors could listen to. These are the original phone calls made by the victims inside of the plane during the tragedy. The importance of these phone calls really took a while to sink in. The last words of innocent men and women are available for all to hear.

MADDY HANNAN

Disaster struck our nation 23 years ago, and some of the lives that were lost are now honored every day at the Flight 93 Memorial. At 10:04 a.m. on that fateful day, Flight 93 crashed. There were 40 innocent people on that airplane, and the amazing thing about their story is that they tried to fight back against those who hijacked the plane. They didn’t know it then, but those strangers and their heroic decision to fight back saved way more than 40 lives on the ground that day. Now, their story is survived 23 years later at the crash site, where a beautiful memorial is built. The Oracle was lucky enough to travel to see this memorial this past month. After a short introduction, we began our tour at the crash site. The pathway to the wall of names was beautiful, and carefully designed to resemble the details of the flight itself. Benches were shaped like the plane wings, which was a cool realization for us. The wall of names was also beautifully placed, as many of the passengers had special engravings next to their names. For example, the flight attendants and captains were specifically marked, one woman carrying an unborn child was marked, and even a Japanese passenger had his name written in kanji. The architecture at the visitor center painted a beautiful picture in the form of the timeline. Looking straight down the hill and seeing the time of each disaster leading up to the Flight 93 crash was clever. It created a beautiful and witty way to honor all of those that had fallen, and not those just limited to this location. This trip was a great learning experience for us, and we were able to get a bit more insight on how heroic those passengers were.

CALEB COX

This was my first time ever being at the memorial, and my first impression on it was how interesting the architecture looked. I loved the way that the benches looked like wings from an airplane. I noticed also, and (I’m not sure if they meant to do this or not), but I thought the arm rests of the benches also looked similar to the arm rests of the seats on an air plane. I loved how in the museum part of it that when you walked through it from the outside balcony, it was like a runway. Our tour guide, Ranger Adam Shaffer, was really good too.

ADAHLINE BIRCH

The Flight 93 Memorial had a large impact on how I now view the situation. It was my first time visiting the Flight 93 memorial and the most I knew was that planes had been hijacked and people had lost their lives. At the memorial, we view a boulder which marks the crash site. You can see it from different directions, but as a visitor you’re unable to go near it. Only family members are permitted access to the crash site.  On the marble slabs that make up the Wall of Names, some have special engraving; one that stuck was Lauren Grandcola’s because she was pregnant and engraved next to her name it reads “and her unborn child.” The memorial also includes slideshow pictures that families provided for the victims. You could click on any person and it would show you what was found that belonged to them. The memorial also offered everyone the chance to listen to the three recorded calls made from Flight 93. This was emotional. Hearing each shaky breath made my eyes water and I saw one woman who wasn’t able to stop crying.

RYLIN KINZEL

Going to the Flight 93 memorial for the first time was an incredible experience. I expected it to be a very depressing place, not a joyful place. I expected to see a big hole where the plane had crashed, a group of small tombstones for the innocent people that died that day, a couple of pictures and flowers in a small visitor center — just sadness everywhere. That wasn’t what I saw at all. I didn’t expect the memorial to be the wonderful and beautiful thing that it is. There were things that I saw there that will never leave my memory:

• seeing the names of all the people, truly innocent people, who died that day on amazing marble walls
• all of the little flowers and trinkets by walls
• learning that the youngest passenger was Deora Frances Bodley, who was only 20 years old when she died
• listening to the phone calls that captured some of the final conversations between the victims of Flight 93 and their family members. Hearing those phone calls was extremely emotional.
• being able to see and walk along the path that Flight 93 took seconds before it crashed. The path lines up perfectly with the bolder that marks where the plane crashed.
• going into the visitor center and seeing videos of the events of 9/11 and seeing some of the artifacts that were recovered from the crash site
• pictures of every single one of the 40 innocent passengers.

Literally everything I saw that day was amazing and extraordinary. I will truly never forget this experience.

ANTONIO DITOMMASO

Going to the Flight 93 memorial was an amazing, eye-opening experience; something that I’ll never forget. Listening to the somber phone calls was depressing, knowing this was the last call they made to their loved ones — the sadness was heard, but also felt. Lastly, seeing the flight path, seeing the replays of news coverage from 9/11, and hearing certain recollections of what happened better educated me and helped me to have a sense of thankfulness for what those heroic, intrepid civilians did that day — they lost their lives, but saved so many others that morning.

ELLIOTT INSCHO

Our trip to the memorial was my first, and I found it to be a very impactful and interesting experience. I thought that the small details, like the specialized architecture and personalization of certain victims’ memorials, were very interesting and showed the importance of each passenger. The vast collection of artifacts in the museum made it even more clear how heroic the passengers were. Flight 93 was a significant part of American history, and the memorial does it justice.