Flight 93 Memorial Breaks Ground in Pa.

8 Years After Sept. 11th Attacks, Memorial for Passengers of United Flight 93 Gets Underway

(CBS)  By CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor and CBS News producer Phil Hirschkorn

As the September 11th terrorist attacks unfolded in New York and Washington, with three hijacked planes crashing into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a fourth plane hovered over Pennsylvania, on course for the nation's capital. But an uprising by the passengers and the crew of United Flight 93 thwarted the terrorists' plans. Today, in Shanksville, Pa., at the spot where Flight 93 crashed, there was a groundbreaking for a permanent memorial.

Today, the field is very much the same as it was eight years ago. It is quiet and pastoral with few physical hints of the scars left on 9/11 when Flight 93 hit the ground nose first.

"Our challenges pale in comparison to what our loved ones faced on that fateful morning," said Gordon Felt, president of Families of Flight 93.

That fateful morning a group of strangers, learning of the attacks on New York and Washington, voted to take their plane back. The place that their journey ended 80 miles from Pittsburgh has become a pilgrimage site. A small monument lists the names of those who were on board.

Donald Peterson was one of them.

"It's a field of honor, because it memorializes the sacrifice of the 40 passenger and crew members who gave their lives to protect the nation's capitol," said Hamilton Peterson, Donald Peterson's son.

His grandsons were among the children shoveling dirt at the groundbreaking ceremony for what families hope will be a teachable memorial.

"The message of Flight 93 is that we all must participate. If we don't, we're destined to fail," Peterson said.

Most of the passengers aboard Flight 93 were from New Jersey, where the plane took off, or California, where it was headed. Deora Bodley, a 20-year-old college student returning to California after visiting friends, was the youngest.

"To have the children turning the ground, and knowing Deora had a love and passion for children, just really warmed my heart," said her mother, Deborah Borza.

The memorial will feature long paths and groves of trees. A tower of wind chimes will rise 93 feet. The design was picked from hundreds entered in a competition four years ago.

"To try to create a sense of reverence and awe, and we've used the land to do that," said Paul Murdoch, architect of the Flight 93 Memorial.

So far, more than 50,000 donors have given $16 million to see the memorial built. The government has contributed millions more. The memorial will be the focal point of a 2,000 acre park run by the National Park Service.

"We in the United States of America forever will be thankful for what they did," said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

The main part of the Flight 93 memorial is due to be built by September 11th, 2011, the 10th anniversary of the attacks. You can learn more about the memorial at honorflight93.org.

[aChangeOfIdeas]

Just the threat of eminent domain will force people to sell at lower than fair market value. And what is fair market value on land that has been in your family for several generations? The memorial is going to cover 2200 acres. That seems like an enormous amount of land for a memorial. While I don't think we should forget what happened on 9/11, this seems overdone. Some of the land wasn't used as a primary residence, but I feel bad for the families that are going to be displaced from this.

[eyesopenwide]

Seems like an awful waste of land for an incident that never happened, especially since United Airlines itself admits that flight 93 landed safely later that afternoon in cleveland.

The county coroner stated that when he arrived on scene there were no bodies, no wreckage, just a hole in the ground with yellow tape around it; unlike any airplane crash he'd ever been called to. And now this man refuses to talk to anyone.

Check it out yourself.

[cbsblogger]

There's a poignant monument there now. Why take private land? We could do much more with the many millions that this will cost that the US can't afford.

There are more legitimate questions surrounding Flight 93 than answers. For example how plane wreckage and the effects of passengers find there way miles away from the impact site. The best monument would be a full and comprehensive and fact finding investigation with questions from the 9-11 truthers and under oath answers.

[band3x]

"it's more likely that the eminent domain proceedings were used to compel the buyer to sell at fair market value"

Good one! The government NEVER offers fair market value. Maybe you mean the value of property at a time when real estate property value is at an all time low? Like today, for instance. And ta that, they were probably offered 20 cents on a worthless dollar.
But, it is good to see some americans still have faith in their government. You wanna buy a bridge?

[hermitdave]

So the monument to a magic hold in the ground in Pennsylvania his going to be built. It could be a monument of a big tail section of the flight 93 airliner, but just like the magic diapering airliner at the Pentagon, flight 93 just left a empty hole in the ground. DOZE ON stupid humans.

[band3x]

Right! The plane that appeared out of nowhere and vanished the same way. It's alot cheaper to give hero benefits to people who don't exist.

[dhague]

It's amazing how some people will let their hatred of a government official inspire them to make a totally irrelevant post here, even childishly playing with his name to do so.

Like everything else, there was some controversy over the siting and design of the memorial. I doubt that the original crescent shape had anything to do with Islam; this is a memorial to those who lost their lives and not those who took them.

As for the property being "seized", it's more likely that the eminent domain proceedings were used to compel the buyer to sell at fair market value, which is not quite the same thing.

[armyoftwelve]

There is no mention about some of the controversy surrounding this project. The USG had to seize the property via eminent domain from the owner and the original memorial design was supposed to have been crescent-shaped. Neither this story or the offical weblink mention anything about the controversy.