In Memory of Flight 93...9/11/01

We had an exciting and exhausting day of whitewater rafting on the Youghiogheny River in south-central Pennsylvania, but before heading home to Ohio, we made a detour to nearby Shanksville to visit this memorial to the brave souls who lost their lives in a field there on September 11, 2001, a day few of us are likely to ever forget.

Bob and I have visited the memorial a number of times, but the friends who were with us had not. Every other time we stood on this windswept hill , the atmosphere has been solemn, heavy, and quiet. Today we were surprised by the presence of a hundred or more motorcyclists, a photographer from National Geographic Magazine, and this bagpiper who stepped out fromthe shadow of the temporary memorial to play Amazing Grace for the silent crowd. It was a fitting and poignant reminder of the importance of Flight 93 and the grace displayed by the men and women on that hijacked plane.