SHANKSVILLE, Pa. - Mayor Michael Bloomberg toured the Flight 93 memorial site on Sunday, the first of two stops designed to commemorate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Only a handful of visitors were at the crash site in Shanksville as Bloomberg presented officials with an American flag that had flown over ground zero. The flag was then raised at the Flight 93 site, about 65 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
Bloomberg said Shanksville and New York City shared in the losses of that day, and he spoke of the importance of memorializing the events and victims, even if costly.
“They are people you don't know, but they are human beings just like you and me,” Bloomberg said. “We have an obligation ... to tell our children and grandchildren what happened and the heroism that people exhibited. Part of that is on the plane that went down here.”
Flight 93 was en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco on Sept. 11, 2001, when it crashed as passengers apparently tried to rush the cockpit of the hijacked airliner. All 33 passengers, seven crew members and the hijackers died.
Christine Fraser, sister of flight victim Colleen Fraser, said seeing Bloomberg and his reaction to the memorial was meaningful.
“I was so pleased to hear that he wanted to come out and see for himself what this place is,” she said.
Bloomberg was scheduled to speak later Sunday morning in Pittsburgh, where a 4-ton beam from the World Trade Center is making its fourth stop in a national fundraising tour for a ground zero memorial. Bloomberg chairs the multimillion-dollar effort to raise money for the memorial.
Construction of a $58 million permanent memorial at the site and national park is scheduled to begin by 2009. A ribbon-cutting is planned for the 10-year anniversary of the attacks.
The park will encompass 2,200 acres, of which more than 1,350 acres include the crash site, debris field and land needed for visiting the national memorial. Another 907 acres would comprise the perimeter around the memorial.
On the Net
Flight 93 National Memorial Project: http://www.honorflight93.org
National Park Service Flight 93 National Memorial Project: http://www.flight93memorialproject.org,0000
Bloomberg said Shanksville and New York City shared in the losses of that day, and he spoke of the importance of memorializing the events and victims, even if costly.
“They are people you don't know, but they are human beings just like you and me,” Bloomberg said. “We have an obligation ... to tell our children and grandchildren what happened and the heroism that people exhibited. Part of that is on the plane that went down here.”
Flight 93 was en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco on Sept. 11, 2001, when it crashed as passengers apparently tried to rush the cockpit of the hijacked airliner. All 33 passengers, seven crew members and the hijackers died.
Christine Fraser, sister of flight victim Colleen Fraser, said seeing Bloomberg and his reaction to the memorial was meaningful.
“I was so pleased to hear that he wanted to come out and see for himself what this place is,” she said.
Bloomberg was scheduled to speak later Sunday morning in Pittsburgh, where a 4-ton beam from the World Trade Center is making its fourth stop in a national fundraising tour for a ground zero memorial. Bloomberg chairs the multimillion-dollar effort to raise money for the memorial.
Construction of a $58 million permanent memorial at the site and national park is scheduled to begin by 2009. A ribbon-cutting is planned for the 10-year anniversary of the attacks.
The park will encompass 2,200 acres, of which more than 1,350 acres include the crash site, debris field and land needed for visiting the national memorial. Another 907 acres would comprise the perimeter around the memorial.
On the Net
Flight 93 National Memorial Project: http://www.honorflight93.org
National Park Service Flight 93 National Memorial Project: http://www.flight93memorialproject.org,0000
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