9/11 Flight 93 heroes honoured with wind chime memorial at Pennsylvania crash site

The 93-foot tall Tower of Voices is located at the crash site of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania
AP
Lucia Binding10 September 2018

A 93-foot monument has been unveiled in Pennsylvania to honour of the heroes of Flight 93 who stopped the hijacked plane from reaching its target on 9/11.

The Tower of Voices contains aluminium wind chimes for each of the plane’s 40 passengers who died trying to regain control of the plane from four Al-Qaeda terrorists.

Each wind chime has its own distinct sound to represent each passenger and crew member on board, many of whom called their loved ones during the ordeal with some leaving heart-breaking voicemails.

The tower is still a work in progress and so far holds eight wind chimes out of the soon-to-be 40.

Family, friends and volunteer representatives attend the first ringing of the chimes at the unveiling of the 93-foot tall Tower of Voices
AP

It is the final component of the 2,200-acre Flight 93 National Memorial at the crash site, located two miles north of Shanksville in Somerset County.

“Together their voices will ring out into perpetuity, with this beautiful Somerset County, Pennsylvania, wind,” said park Superintendent Stephen Clark, USA Today reports.

Paul Murdoch, the architect of the Flight 93 National Memorial, said he wants those visiting the tower to simply “feel”.

A crowd gather at the opening of the tower in Shanksville
AP

Ahead of the 17th anniversary of 9/11 on Tuesday, he said: “The tower itself is quite heroic; it's a monumental piece, it's meant to be heroic. But the sounds are not booming chimes.

“They're meant to be actually quite subtle and intimate, so that people can be there and have a very personal experience, whatever it is for them,” CBS reports.

Some people on board Flight 93 got through to their loved ones and learned that three planes had earlier flown into the World Trade Centre in New York, and the Pentagon.

They quickly realised that their plane was being used in a terrorist attack and a struggle broke out between the passengers and perpetrators.

Tom Ridge, the First U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, and the 43rd governor of Pennsylvania, addresses the crowd at the dedication of the 93-foot tall Tower of Voices
AP

Despite stopping the hijackers reaching their target, the plane crashed near Shanksville, around 65 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

Some people witnessed the impact from the ground, and all 44 people aboard were killed, including the four hijackers.

Of the four planes hijacked on September 11 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 was the only aircraft that failed to reach its target.

Upon learning about the crash, former US Vice President Dick Cheney is reported to have said: “I think an act of heroism just took place on that plane”.

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