Champion, PA

We are in Champion, PA now.We stopped here in '09 to visit the 9/11 Flight 93 Memorial. At that time, there was a temporary memorial. Now there is a permanent one. We wanted to see the changes.

In 2009, this was the greeting sign.

This told a little about the crash.

These plaques told more.

This was a temporary fence where individuals could hang memorable items of respect.

This set of benches had the names of each passenger and crew.








The flag marks the spot of the crash. No one was allowed on this spot except the family of the crew and passengers.






Three ears later, the park service has acquired the property surrounding the crash site and started building the permanent memorial.




New entrance sign to the site.

A sign telling what happened

and showing the flight path.











The only building completed to date. It is strictly a shelter. It is also used for a place for rangers to meet and talk to visitors.

One of the many pictures taken that day of the crash.

The flight path.

When the passengers found out what had happened at the twin towers, they held a meeting at the rear of the aircraft and decided to do something.

A picture of each of the 40 crew and passengers.











The walk out to the crash site. This was the fence line that held the flag in the '09 photos.

The memorial wall













Each persons name is on an individual panel.

The actual crash site. The families selected the bolder to mark the spot to show strength. The airplane made a 30 foot deep hole when it crashed. They dug another 10 feet down to locate any debris and even recovered the "Black Box".
Only park officials and family are allowed there.

The line of the wall is the exact flight path of the aircraft. The wooden gate at the far end is where I took the picture of the crash site.



The items, including the memorial fence and benches are now stored in archives. By 2014, they plan to have a visitor center and will probably have them on display inside.

We will come back then!

PS There is a place near here, The Laurel Hill Restaurant and Pub, that has excellent "Philly Cheese Steak " sandwiches. We found it by chance in '09 and have revisited it this trip.