Flight 93 National Memorial

My last stop on my Pennsylvania tour was another sobering, poignant one -- the Flight 93 National Memorial. It's a bit ironic that it's so close (30 minutes...) to the Johnstown Flood site as it's another time when people tragically got swept up in events so outside their control.

While not the newest NPS unit, it represents, perhaps by far, the most recent event, the events of 9/11 being only 10 years ago. And the heroic actions of the 40 people on board to try to take back the plane are well worthy of honor -- they in all likelihood prevented the Capitol or the White House from being destroyed, saving at least hundreds of lives without saving their own.

The site is still in development, but I took encouragement from a Washington Post article urging people to visit now, and I agree. The central impact point of the plane is marked with flags, with a walkway 50 yards away leading to a gate of sorts. On the walls leading to the gate are simply the names of the 40, one per panel. Family members alone can walk through the gate to the impact point.

Many more tributes are planned splawling across this quiet Pennsylvania farmscape, but I think this is enough. Strangers can mourn and honor from a respectful distance while the families can grieve closer, in relative privacy.

Being such a new site, with much of the story still unwinding with the war in Afghanistan continuing, it's hard to tell how the significance of this site will morph with time. With the New York and Pentagon sites under other jurisdictions, this could become the National Memorial to the greater attacks and on-going wars. Or perhaps it will remain a testimony to these 40 souls alone who did the right thing at the ultimate cost.

Visitor's Ratings (out of 5)
Significance: 5 -- Maybe time will change this, but the most significant event of a generation deserves a central place to remember and mourn.
Beauty: 1 -- like a battlefield park, it's a farmer's field in the middle of nowhere -- and even the monument itself isn't especially beautiful, but if there's beauty in sacrifice, it's here.
Fun: 1 -- perhaps the least fun in the whole NPS system because the reality is so close.
Overall: 5

Accessibility: rather remote -- about an hour off the PA turnpike, a few hours from DC, Baltimore
Logistics/signs: 3 -- not much here yet, but enough to get the job done. A few more signs and the movie that none of us needs to see await.
Time required: 30 minutes will do -- a quarter mile walk both ways, a few plackards, and some time to reflect.
Time to visit: totally outside, so spring/fall are best.
Kid friendliness: awfully low -- think the Vietnam Memorial. Perhaps with the additional construction will include interpretive elements more child-centered.

And with that, I'm at #198 out of (now) 396 NPS sites -- halfway done...