American’s Heroes of the 21st Century Featuring Flight 93 Memorial - August 18, 2021

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Heading west via the PA turnpike, we exited on the Bedford exchange to meet our guides for the day.  The guides entered the bus and gave us a bit of history of Bedford as we toured the town on U.S route 30, known as the Lincoln Highway.  The Lincoln Highway was the first coast-to-coast highway built under the guidance of Carl Fisher beginning in 1913.  Another interesting site in Bedford is the Omni Bedford Springs Resort which includes a championship golf course.  The Fall Festival every October is also must-see event.

We headed west toward Shanksville and the Flight 93 National Memorial. Our first stop was the Memorial Plaza.  As we took the quarter mile walk along the paved walkway to the Wall of Names, we could see the impact site and the huge boulder, marking the final resting place of Capital Jason Dahl, First Officer Leroy Homer, 5 Flight Attendants and the 33 passengers (plus an unborn child). The Wall of Names honors the 40 that lost their lives that day on September 11, 2001.

Next was the Visitor Center which included exhibits and viewing windows.  We listened to gut-wrenching recordings left by several passengers on home answering machines, minutes before the crash.  The passengers were aware of the twin tower crashes and knew the hijackers were taking them on a suicide mission.  As we walked out to the observation deck, we could see the path of the flight before it crashed.

On the way out of the Memorial, we stopped at the Tower of Voices.  The Tower of Voices is a monumental, ninety-three feet tall holding forty wind chimes, representing the forty passengers and crew members.  We were able to hear the set of forty tones (voices) throughout the site.

Lunch was at the Coal Miners Café in Jennersville.  A delicious choice of hot beef sandwich, hot turkey sandwich, or grilled chicken salad was followed by gob cake, which is the Western PA’s version of the Whoopie Pie.

Our next stop was the rescue site of the Quecreek mine. Nine miners were trapped 243 feet underground from July 24-26, 2002.  Our presenter did an excellent job of what occurred and how these men were rescued.  A retired mining safety inspector, who was on-site during the rescue operation answered questions and provided insight on how the life-saving decisions were made.

Our final stop on the tour was the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel, located a few miles from the crash site. The nondenominational chapel was founded by a Catholic Bishop (Father Al).  The Chapel is dedicated to remembering and honoring the courageous passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93.  The garden contains a memorial of the flight 93 crew dedicated by the United Airlines Flight Attendants to honor their friends.  Many items inside were donated by family members of the passengers and crew.  Of interest were the quilts hanging inside, which resemble stained glass windows, were made by a quilting group in Reading.  Two veterans from our group lit the seven-day candle and we finished with God Bless America accompanied on the piano by a member of our group.  It was a long but emotional day for all of us as we headed home.

    
PS: The door side of the bus won the trivia contest, and Henry’s jokes got everyone laughing as usual.  We did get guest humorists Steve Rathman and one of guides entertain us with a few funny jokes that also kept us laughing.  The guides were excellent and provided us with interesting information the whole day.   And another great job by Elite Coach getting us there and back home safely.

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Associated Websites:
Omni Bedford Springs Resort:   https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/bedford-springs.

Bedford Fall Foliage Festival:  https://bedfordfallfoliagefestival.com  
Flight 93 National Memorial:  https://www.nps.gov/flni/index.htm
Quecreek Mine Rescue Foundation:  http://www.quecreekrescue.org
Quecreek rescue movie:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqWe9LP2U-U
Newspaper article of the opening of the Flight 93 Chapel: https://www.lakenewsonline.com/x219210230/Reverend-builds-Flight-93-Chapel-dedicated-to-passengers-and-crew
 

Please see the following trip pictures.