Flight 93 victims remembered, honored for their actions on 9/11

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Hundreds gathered today on the anniversary of 9/11 to remember and honor those killed in the downing of United Airlines Flight 93, in a ceremony next to a new visitor center intended to help keep alive the heroism of passengers and crew.

Relatives of the 33 passengers and seven crew members who died in the terrorist attack read their names as bells also rang on a hill overlooking the crash site.

Flight 93 was headed from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco on Sept. 11, 2001, when it was hijacked with the likely goal of crashing it into the White House or Capitol. A passenger revolt ended with it going down in a field about 65 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

“We don’t want our kids to think of this as another plane crash. We want them to know that people chose to save lives at the cost of their own lives,” said Ben Mecham, 39, of Johnstown, Pa., who brought his 7-year-old son, Parker, to the ceremony.

His son said the visitor center “is here to honor the people who have died for the sake of the White House and the president and everyone else that was in there.”

“I can’t believe they were brave enough to kill themselves for other people,” he said.

The observance was the first not held at the Flight 93 memorial wall itself, and came one day after the dedication of the $26 million visitor center.