September 11

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. (AP) ― Hundreds of family members of the 40 passengers and crew aboard Flight 93 opened a solemn ceremony Monday with prayer, five years after the doomed flight slammed into a field.

Joined by Gov. Ed Rendell and former Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge, those gathered near the crash site remembered the dead and recognized the efforts of those leading an effort to build a permanent memorial in a ceremony titled "United in Courage, Community and Commitment." Later Monday, President Bush and the first lady were to meet privately with the victims' families at the crash site.

"We stand here today with pride because of heroism, heroism not only in the skies but heroism by so many who have stepped up to the plate to make sure that this memorial will be built and will forever serve as a reminder of the American spirit as it was evidenced on Flight 93," said Hamilton Peterson, whose father and stepmother died on the plane and who is now president of the Families of Flight 93.

Peterson said his group recently bought a parcel of land near the crash site with money donated from Universal
Pictures, which released the film "United 93" earlier this year. The land will be a part of a permanent memorial there.

United Airlines Flight 93 was en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when the hijackers took over, likely with the goal of crashing the plane into the White House or the Capitol. The plane crashed after passengers apparently rushed the cockpit in an effort to wrest control from the terrorists.

John O'Leary, 41, a firefighter from Eastchester, N.Y., just outside of New York City, came to see the site Monday instead of going to the site of the World Trade Center. O'Leary said coming to Shanksville felt more real to him than going into New York, where the site of the terrorist attacks is now a construction zone.

"Everything's fenced off," O'Leary said. "Up here, everything's right here. You're in the heart."

Since the crash, a group of volunteers, known now as the Flight 93 ambassadors, point visitors to the crash site and describe what happened aboard the plane on Sept. 11, 2001. Forty-five volunteers now take turns working two-hour shifts each day, some months guiding more than 25,000 visitors.

Organizers hope to raise $30 million in private funding to build a permanent memorial on a 1,700-acre site there; the total cost is estimated to be $58 million. Congress has passed the Flight 93 Memorial Act, which established a new national park to honor the victims of the hijacked plane.

At the ceremony, Rendell said the state would be signing a commitment letter to give $10 million to the memorial effort.

He also said the state Game Commission had acquired 300 acres around the crash site, land that will be managed as a public wildlife area.

"This action will forever preserve the entrance to the memorial in an undeveloped and natural setting," Rendell said.

A handful of people arrived at the site at daybreak Monday, greeted by gray skies, a whipping wind and the sight of a temporary memorial—a 10-foot-tall chain-link fence stuffed with American flags, firefighter helmets and drawings from children.

Many of the early morning visitors had no connection to the doomed flight, but just wanted to pay their respects on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

"I didn't understand when everything happened," said a crying Carol Fritz, 15, who drove up Monday morning from

Uniontown with her uncle. "My kids, my grandkids are going to ask me what happened. I wanted to tell them, tell them I was here."

At 8 a.m., several people came together for an unofficial flag ceremony using an American flag with a circle around the number "93" in the corner. Led by visitor Gene Stilp, the flag was to be unfolded and then folded again every hour during the day at the site in a tribute to those who died.

Stilp said the purpose of the ceremony was to bring together various strangers there, just as Flight 93 brought together 40 strangers who became heroes.

Larry Antonio, 58, and his wife Barbara, 59, of Gilbertsville, participated in the flag ceremony. The couple didn't know anyone on Flight 93, but wanted to attend Monday's ceremony to show their support for the families of those killed.

Like many there, they were struck by the chain-link fence, overflowing with items left by strangers as well as family members.

"It just shows people don't forget," Larry Antonio said.

(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)