Shanksville Monument

For John, BLUF:  A quick loook at the monument outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, to the passengers aboard Flight 93, who took down the hijacked airliner, at the cost of their own lives.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A SHANKSVILLE MEDITATION

Here is the sub-headline:

It took the passengers of Flight 93 less than 20 minutes to decide that they would rather risk death as free men and women than submit to certain destruction as submissive captives of evil men intent on mass murder.

From The Pilot, by Mr George Weigel, 27 October 2021.

Here is the lede plus two:

The most moving feature of the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, are the pictures of the 40 brave men and women who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, while preventing al-Qaeda terrorists from destroying the U.S. Capitol.  At this moment of intense divisiveness and polarization in America, it's important to reflect on those images and learn from them, however peripheral they may be to the memorial's design.

At 8:42 a.m. on 9/11, United 93, a Boeing 757, took off on a flight from Newark to San Francisco.  The north tower of the World Trade Center was struck by a hijacked airliner four minutes later.  At 9:03 a.m., the south tower was hit.  Some 25 minutes after that, terrorists seized control of United 93.  And a few minutes later, the Pentagon was struck by another hijacked plane.  The next 20 minutes wrote an epic story of courage and resolve into the annals of American history.

Thanks to cell phones and on-board airphones, Flight 93's passengers, who were herded to the back of the plane after the hijackers seized the cockpit, learned what had happened to the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.  Thirty-seven phone calls, plus the fact that the plane had reversed its course and was heading east toward Washington, convinced the passengers that the hijacking of United 93 was part of a coordinated terrorist plot to cripple the United States.  After discussing their situation and responsibilities, the passengers voted to try and retake the plane, tackling the hijacker who remained in the passenger cabin (and claimed to have a bomb), and then forcing their way into the cockpit to regain control of a 65-ton jetliner careening through the sky.

Passenger Todd Beamer, whose call, "Let's Roll" has lived beyond the day is the known hero.  That said, all the passangers on that flight acted like Americans and came together to do the right thing I thank them for their fine example.

Mr Weigel is not all that impressed with the Shanksville Monument.  But he is very impressed with the dignity of those passangers on that flight.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff