A Change of Scenery
by Jeff Yocum
a place to remember
Do you remember where you were when you first heard the news? Who were you with? What were you doing? Do you recall the difficulty your brain had trying to reconcile what you were seeing with what you thought reality should be? A plane had flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. How could that be? The weather was perfect. In broad daylight.
When the second plane struck the South Tower just 17 minutes later, the thin thread of hope that what we were all seeing was just a horrible accident snapped. A new reality had manifested itself. We were under attack.
While the world watched the two World Trade Center towers burn, another attack occurred at 9:37 a.m. This one was closer to home. American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. Thurmont’s mayor at the time, Marty Burns, was in the building when it was hit. News of the third attack fanned the flames of panic. A congressman erroneously reported a fourth plane had crashed “somewhere near Camp David.”
Another plane had indeed crashed, but not near Camp David. United Flight 93 flew into the ground at an abandoned strip mine in rural Pennsylvania, near the small town of Shanksville. Forty passengers and crew died instantly as the plane slammed inverted into the ground at 536 miles per hour.
The passengers had learned the fate of the other hijacked planes that morning and decided their only hope was to fight and regain control. It was apparent they were not in a hostage situation with hope of a later release. When the resisting passengers attacked the terrorists, the terrorist piloting the plane began flying erratically, trying to throw the attackers off balance. Flight 93 crashed just eighteen minutes away from Washington, D.C. The intended target is thought to have been the Capitol.
This coming September 11 will be the 25th anniversary of that terrible day. A whole generation has grown into adulthood since that time. They have never known a world devoid of 9/11 consequences.
A little more than two hours from Thurmont is the Flight 93 National Memorial. It is well worth the effort to visit. Being the 25th anniversary, there are many events scheduled for remembrance.
Visiting the Memorial is quite sobering. The once-abandoned strip mine has been transformed into a 2,200-acre rolling wildflower landscape. The open space is nearly always breezy. A 93-foot-tall windchime is located on a crest not far from the crash site. Forty chimes, one for each passenger or crew member, catch the wind to remind the visitor of their valor with a haunting melody.
At the visitor center, you will see the timeline of events, the aftermath, and will be introduced to the innocent victims lost that day. Perhaps the most difficult display to interact with is the recording of some of the passengers’ final calls to their loved ones to say goodbye. You leave the exhibits with a genuine sense of loss for lives cut short by cowardly terrorism.
If you go, give yourself plenty of time to walk the grounds, absorb the peaceful beauty of the open fields, and remember with reverence what happened there. While there are restrooms and a gift shop, there is no food service or picnic tables. It wouldn’t be appropriate. There are diners and restaurants in the general area. My wife and I ate at the Lincoln Café, which is right on US Route 30, just a few miles away. I highly recommend the Ham and Jam sandwich.
Do yourself a favor and visit the Memorial. It was an event that changed the world down to the granular level of people’s lives. If you’re old enough to have watched it unfold on the news, there’s no doubt that you recall where you were, who you were with, and what you were doing. Take the time to tell your young ones.
For more information regarding 9/11 Remembrance events, visit flight93friends.org.
Nancy Yocum in the open wildflower fields of the Flight 93 National Memorial
The Memorial wind chime tower, officially known as the Tower of Voices.
