Saturday July 27

Day of disasters

Ever since I went "west" for my Woodbadge Course almost 5 years ago, I've wanted to take Corey to the Johnstown Flood Memorial in South Fork, PA. While planning this trip, Sue invited us to stay with her family near Pittsburgh and we'd leave from there for Johnstown. But a few things changed our plans, a little bit, anyway.

Somewhere along the way, Corey decided that we should visit the Flight 93 Memorial (maybe because the park ranger at OKC had mentioned it). We had to leave Sue's by 6:30 AM since she had to be at work early that day. We got onto the PA Turnpike (which truly is a horrible road) and drove east toward Somerset. That's when we remembered last night's news; 9 miners were trapped in a flooded mine not far from where we were. Although we weren't going to go over there, these 9 men and their families would be on our minds several times during the course of the day.

When we exited the turnpike, I asked for and was given printed directions to the memorial site. Our first stop was at the McDonald's in Somerset. We spoke with a few of the workers there and one woman told me that she knew several of the men who were trapped. We assured her that we would pray for their safety and went on our way. The overcast skies and chilly temperatures definitely added to the mood of the day. Several hours after we got home, all 9 miners were pulled from the mine, alive and well.

We found the Flight 93 crash site without too much trouble and it was sad driving thru the small town seeing how the local folks have taken a personal interest in this memorial. The site is off a tiny road and they have built a temporary makeshift parking lot. They must have had to put this all together in a hurry and they did an incredible job. In a van sitting close to the guardrail at the end of the parking lot sat a man and his wife. At first I thought they were contemplative visitors but later realized that they are the caretakers. I eventually walked over to them and engaged them in a conversation about the crash site and the plans the town has for a permanent memorial.

It turns out that most of the town is in favor or the memorial, but he told me there are always a few who will object no matter what. There is a donation jar at the site, along with a chainlink fence covered with plaques, flowers, signs, posters, American flags and a lot of signatures. One plaque on ground-display came all the way from Guatemala! People have signed the guardrails too. Far off in the distance is a roped off area, the scene of the crash. Part of it is on private property and the owners have donated the parcel to the memorial project. That area will forever be "sacred ground" as it is now a cemetary without stones. Most of the bodies were never recovered from the site.

The caretakers take several hour shifts at the memorial site and either at the end of the day or when the weather turns nasty, anything left by visitors that can get ruined by rain or wind get removed, stored safely indoors in someone's home and then brought back the next day for re-display at the site. There are many volunteers who take turns sitting at the site every day of the week, from 8 AM until dark, guarding the site and answering the visitors' many questions.

Just inside the memorial area is a bench with 2 photo albums containing photos of the deceased, along with newspaper articles about the crash and the town's plans for a permanent memorial. The Somerset County, Pa. Board of Commissioners has established a Memorial Trust Fund to create a permanent marker at the site of the Sept. 11 crash of United Flight 93. The memorial marker will honor the selflessness of the flight's passengers, who "heroically determined to defend themselves and our nation's security."

Contributions can be sent to:     Somerset County Flight 93, Memorial Account     Trust Department     c/o Somerset Trust Company     PO Box 777     Somerset, PA 15501 Make Checks Payable to: "UA Flight 93 Somerset County Memorial" Flight 93 Memorial Official Website

Click on a date, or go back to main page

Sunday July 7	Monday July 8	Tuesday July 9
Wednesday July 10	Thursday July 11	Friday July 12
Saturday July 13	Sunday July 14	Monday July 15
Tuesday July 16	Wednesday July 17	Thursday July 18
Friday July 19	Saturday July 20	Sunday July 21
Monday July 22	Tuesday July 23	Wednesday July 24
Thursday July 25	Friday July 26	Saturday July 27