Emotions run deep at Flight 93 wall

By AMANDA TONOLI

atonoli@vindy.com

SHANKSVILLE, PA.

What was once a tragic smoldering crater in the middle of an unused field here is now a vast stretch of remembrance.

The landscape is dotted with trees and flowers dedicated to the passengers and crew of United Flight 93 who stopped hijackers from harming either the White House or the Capitol building Sept. 11, 2001.

Visitors walk the length of Memorial Plaza to touch the marble wall inscribed with the names of the

heroes of that flight.

Gregory Zaborowski, Flight 93 National Memorial education program specialist, said he always tries to instill in visitors a belief he holds ­– life is fragile.

Marble inscriptions point out the direction of the actual flight path. Protected by a fence is the actual “hallowed ground” impact area. Only 8 percent of remains from the crash were recovered, Zaborowski said.

Karen and Jerry Kretschmann, of Greensburg, Ind., wandered along the wall, reading each name and talking in hushed voices to each other.

“We just want to pay tribute to the poor people who died,” Karen Kretschmann said. “It’s just sad.”

Although the couple didn’t know anyone who died, Karen said when she was working as a principal, one of her teachers knew passenger Mark Bingham, 31, of San Francisco.

Jerry Kretschmann recalled the fateful day remembering he didn’t know about the tragedy until later that night.

“I was with my best friend in Colorado, and we were climbing Mount Harvard. We didn’t hear anything about the crash until dinner,” he said. “We got down and we were eating. ... Some guy comes up to the counter and starts talking about filling their trucks with gas. Gas was two bucks, two and a half a gallon, and it went to $6 a gallon that evening, and they were talking about how they had filled their trucks and we said, ‘Why’s gas going crazy?’ They said, ‘Well after the twin towers were hit – where you been?’ And I had been at the top of a mountain all day.”

After hearing the news, Jerry said he just wanted to get home.

Like most travelers during that time, Jerry had to take his rental car from Colorado back home to Indiana because planes were grounded until Sept. 14.

The memories the Kretschmanns had were so vivid, as if the incident had happened just the day before. They weren’t alone.

Siblings Mary, 23, and Victoria Hessler, 27, of Maryland, stood closely, sniffling while reading the passengers’ names on a sign.

Mary Hessler said although they have no physical tie to anyone involved in the plane crash, she feels an emotional one, especially as students from a new generation will learn about the tragedy rather than remember.

“I just think it’s weird how freshmen in high school are going to be learning about this historic event that happened before they were born,” she said. “I can remember the day it happened and everything. I can remember everything about that day, and they just won’t understand why everyone they’re related to gets so emotional. They won’t remember coming home from school, seeing your mom freaking out and turn[ing] on the TV all the time and everything. ... Just being here makes it even harder.”

Zaborowski felt differently – being at the park made him feel proud.

“It’s an honor to be here telling their stories and help people remember what happened that day,” he said. “By doing that, you’re doing honor to the 40 passengers and crew who died.”

When park officials discuss the crash, they only discuss the 40 people who died, not the terrorists who were responsible.

Zaborowski helps remind people from all over the country; a sign-in log was filled with notes and signatures from Maryland, Texas, California, Wisconsin and more.

“We get a lot of people here – hundreds of thousands of people per year,” he said. “This park to me is just an extraordinary park. What makes it so extraordinary is that it’s contemporary.”

He said when visitors come to the Flight 93 Memorial Park, they come for the sole purpose of paying respects to those who died “unlike visiting Gettysburg for a history trip about the battle, when visitors can eat and shop and do other things.

“They’re not coming here to picnic. They’re not coming here to shop. Visitors we get here are coming just to walk out to the wall,” he said. “And what’s really unique is no matter how many people we have, it is always very quiet and solemn and very respectful.”

Picked flowers, letters, lucky pennies and more are scattered along the plaza from those wishing to leave mementos to the fallen 40 people of Flight 93.

“Life is about doing good work and small acts of kindness, and there were many that day,” Zaborowski said.