Flight 93 chime tower an ‘everlasting concert by our heroes’
Relatives of the 40 people killed during the terrorist attacks of
The dedication occurred nearly 17 years after passengers on the hijacked flight from
It was "the day that lives were lost so that other lives were saved. And heroes were made over the skies of
The roughly 93-foot (28-meter) structure represents the final phase of the Flight 93 National Memorial. Each chime generates a distinctive sound, and rows of trees that ring the site symbolize sound waves.
"Together their voices will ring out into perpetuity, with this beautiful
The national park at a the crash site, about 2 miles (3 kilometers) north of
As a cold, driving rain pelted the hills, memorial architect
"These chimes respond to unanswered cries of voices not spoken again, but remembered in the vibrations of a monumental tower," Murdoch said.
They range from 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3 meters) long, weigh as much as 150 pounds (68 kilograms) and are tuned.
Nearly 3,000 people died in the
"These guys are the real heroes," said retired truck driver
The Flight 93 passengers learned in mid-flight they had been hijacked and responded heroically, declaring "let's roll" as they confronted their adversaries inside the plane.
Thirteen passengers on the plane made a combined 37 phone calls during the attack, getting information about the other three hijackings and crashes.
"When they learned that, it galvanized them as a group," Clark said. "They said, 'We're not going back to any airport. This is a suicide mission.'"
As some passengers apparently tried to storm the cabin, the hijacker at the controls then rolled the plane, trying to throw them off balance, before the aircraft became inverted and crashed at 563 mph (906 kph) on the edge of a reclaimed strip mine at
The impact ignited about 100 hemlock trees. Hemlocks are used as symbols throughout the memorial's design, including the tower.
A 17-ton (15-metric ton) sandstone marks the impact site, located within a 44-acre (17.8-hectare) fenced-off area of the field where crash debris landed, referred to as the "sacred ground." Access to that part of the park is limited to family members of the passengers and crew. Four 40-foot (12.2-meter) containers of remaining debris from the crashed airplane were buried there during a private ceremony on
The memorial was funded with
The dedication comes two days before the anniversary of the
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