10 years after Flight 93 left Newark, New Jersey  bound for San Francisco and crashed into a remote field in western Pennsylvania, the National Park Service is opening a memorial to those who died in their effort to thwart terrorists in their goal of crashing into the capital building.

In 2007, as we began our cross country journey driving my Grandmother’s car from Pittsburgh to San Francisco, we went to see the Flight 93 memorial. At the time, it was only a makeshift parking lot of gravel in the field where the plane crashed. The site was really just a field that had recently been taken over to make a memorial. The gravel lot wasn’t very big and there was a tiny shed that functioned as a shelter from the elements and held the binders that contained pictures and descriptions of all of the victims.

A chain link fence had been erected and it was filled with memorabilia, trinkets, notes, and all kinds of other things. It was an amazing display of compassion, faith, and prayer from all over the world. There was a bench nearby where you could sit in a spot that overlooked the field and the distant crash site. You couldn’t get near the crash site – it was on the edge of the woods in the distance.

The docent on duty that day was a medic who had been dispatched to the scene on Sept. 11th. It was gut wrenching to listen to him and look through the pictures of the people who died. For some reason, I have no pictures of that visit – the picture of the fence and mementos is from the one at the Oklahoma City bombing memorial. I was visibly shaken from this visit when we left. It was very emotional to learn more of the details of that day. You hope in that same situation that you would do the same – at least that is how I felt as we drove away.

I hope when they open the memorial that it is a fitting tribute and well attended. If you are ever in Western Pennsylvania, please go check it out and say a silent thank you to those on the flight who prevented even more bloodshed and terror. Details of the memorial opening can be found here.