Shanksville Memorial

Shanksville Memorial, The families of 40 passengers and crew died when Flight 93 was stabbed in a field in rural Pennsylvania was praised for a decade on Sunday to help inspire a new generation of Americans, while keeping the memory of the dedication of their loved ones and courage Burning Brightly.

At a ceremony to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, about 5,000 people heard the names of the passengers and crew who died were read aloud while the bells tolled. Then a choir sang as people – including members of the family, the first, politicians and the 1,000 people who came to participate – listened attentively.

“In the last 10 years we have heard this place compared to many other places,” including the Alamo and Gettysburg, Governor Tom Corbett said that in the recently dedicated National Park marks the site where Flight 93 crashed. “But the truth is that this place is like no other, because the events aboard Flight 93 were like no other.”

Corbett said the victims, “charted a new course, a new standard for value in America.”

Sunday service at the Flight 93 memorial, about 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, was arrested in concert with ceremonies in New York and Washington, DC, where other hijacked planes crashed into the twin towers of World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Former Gov. Tom Ridge, head of the nation’s first national security, thanked the 2,000 people that came to mind for the Sunday service.

“I think his presence today means almost as much for families, perhaps as much as the monument itself,” said Ridge. “His presence is a powerful message of comfort and understanding and love.”

Families turned and gave the visitors a standing ovation.

Ridge went on to pay tribute to the victims, saying their actions show “Americans do not live in fear, we live in freedom”

Gordon Felt, brother of Edward and President of the families of passengers on Flight 93, directed some of his comments to the families of the victims.

“I just wish I could have gotten to know each and every one of you in different circumstances,” he said. “We have lost too much.”

Visitors Service Flight 93 observed moments of silence at 8:46 am and 9:03 am – the times when two planes crashed into the twin towers in New York. They did the same at 9:37 am, when a third plane into the Pentagon.

There was a moment of silence at 10:03 am at the monument, but the emotion was evident.

Susan Stine, 52, of Tamaqua, Pa., said it has reached the crash site of Flight 93 to commemorate the anniversary of each year.

“Everybody was going to New York for the first anniversary and we came here. I can not imagine not being here on 9 / 11,” said Stine.

“The first time I wanted to come here to check on him, and it was amazing. I feel different when I leave here every year,” he said. “I feel better in my heart.”

U.S. Congressman Mark Critz, D-Pa, choked as he spoke about the Wall of Names, a series of 40 marble plaques with the names of the victims.

He said the pattern of the wall traces the flight path of the plane before it crashed, Critz said: “Ten years of excitement rushed in”

Passengers aboard Flight 93 were hijacked after takeoff from New Jersey.

Flight 93 crashed after passengers and crew, alerted by some cell phone calls from loved ones about the attacks in New York, decided to try to wrest control of their plane four hijackers.

The plane crashed during the fight, and investigators later determined that the hijackers intended to crash into the Capitol in Washington, DC, where the House and Senate were in session in the morning.