The valiant voices of 40 airline passengers and crewmembers who were a ray of hope on a dark day in America 17 years ago echoed again Sunday across the rolling hills of rural Pennsylvania. A gleaming concrete and steel structure that climbs 93 feet into the sky was dedicated to the heroes of Flight 93 – the New Jersey-to-California plane commandeered by four hijackers on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001 – two days before the anniversary of the horrific attacks in which 3,000 people died. The Tower of Voices features a wind chime for each person on board with its own distinctive sound. “Together their voices will ring out into perpetuity, with this beautiful Somerset County, Pennsylvania, wind,” park Superintendent Stephen Clark said. The tower is the final phase of the 2,200-acre Flight 93 National Memorial at the crash site about 2 miles north of Shanksville in Somerset County. A visitor's center opened three years ago; a memorial plaza was dedicated on the 10th anniversary in 2011. But it is the chimes – aluminum tubes 5 to 10 feet long that weigh nearly 150 pounds – that are intended to be the most evocative. The voices onboard Flight 93 are seared in Americans' memory. After hijackers stormed the cockpit 45 minutes after takeoff and announced the plane was returning to the airport, more than a dozen passengers and flight attendants made nearly 40 calls – some leaving wrenching voicemails, others learning from loved ones of the terror in the skies elsewhere that day. The information gleaned from those calls cemented a resolve aboard the aircraft: The passengers and crew decided to fight back. “When they learned that, it galvanized them as a group,” Clark said. “They said, ‘We’re not going back to any airport. This is a suicide mission.’ ” Several passengers and flight attendants talked over their options and voted on a plan to reclaim the plane. Passenger Todd Beamer was heard saying: "Are you ready? OK. Let's roll." As the passengers raced toward the cockpit, a struggle ensued and the plane crashed into a field near a strip mine. Flight 93 was the only flight not to reach the hijackers' intended target, which officials believed to be the nation's capital. The structure's architect said it was vital to remember those voices. “We wanted to do, I’ll call it a living memorial in sound, because the last memory of many of the people on the plane were through their voices on phone calls,” Paul Murdoch said. “And we wanted to use the natural forces of the site to activate the chimes.” President Donald Trump is expected to attend a memorial ceremony Tuesday in Shanksville, along with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Contributing: The Associated Press<doc-sep>NEW A vastly improved search engine helps you find the latest on companies, business leaders, and news more easily.<doc-sep>A memorial opened on Sunday, dedicated to passengers and crew killed when a hijacked plane was crashed into a rural Pennsylvania field on September 11, 2001. The Tower of Voices stands 93 feet tall and includes a unique wind chime for each of the 40 who died in the crash. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge said at the dedication the chimes in the tower will provide "an everlasting concert by our heroes." SHANKSVILLE, Pa. (AP) — A tower that honors the passengers and crew killed when a hijacked plane was crashed into a rural Pennsylvania field is now in place, the final major feature of a 2,200-acre memorial. The Tower of Voices was dedicated Sunday, with remarks from former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge and the park's superintendent. The wind chimes inside the Tower of Voices. bioLinia and Paul Murdoch Architects via National Park Service The 93-foot structure at the Flight 93 memorial north of Shanksville is designed with a wind chime for each of the 40 who died on Sept. 11, 2001. Ridge, who became the first head of the federal Homeland Security Department, said the chimes, each of which is tuned and positioned to give it a distinct sound, will provide "an everlasting concert by our heroes." Three other hijacked planes were crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. Nearly 3,000 people died in the attack. People attending the dedication stand around the 93-foot tall Tower of Voices on Sunday, Sept. 9, 2018 at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa. AP Photo/Keith Srakocic President Donald Trump is expected to attend the 17th anniversary event at the Pennsylvania site on Tuesday. The Flight 93 National Memorial north of Shanksville already includes a memorial plaza, dedicated on the 10th anniversary in 2011, and a visitor's center that opened three years ago.<doc-sep>
A 93-foot concrete and steel high-rise monument was unveiled Sunday at the Pennsylvania crash site of Flight 93, to honor the heroic passengers who thwarted the hijacked plane from reaching its target on 9/11. The Tower of Voices contains aluminum wind chimes for each of the plane’s 40 passengers — each with its own distinct sound — and is the final component of the Flight 93 National Memorial at the crash site, two miles north of Shanksville in Somerset County. The 2,200-acre memorial also includes a visitor’s center that opened three years ago and a plaza that opened in 2011. “Together their voices will ring out into perpetuity, with this beautiful Somerset County, Pennsylvania, wind,” said park Superintendent Stephen Clark, USA Today reports. Flight 93 was one of the four planes hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001 in the coordinated terrorist attack on the U.S. that killed nearly 3,000 people. Tuesday will mark the 17th anniversary of the attacks. On the morning of 9/11, the California-bound plane was seized by four hijackers who announced the aircraft would be returning to its New Jersey departure point. As passengers hurriedly made emotional phone calls to friends and families, some were informed about the other suicide-missions that had taken place that day. The passengers decided to take matters into their own hands. “When they learned that, it galvanized them as a group,” Clark said. “They said, ‘We’re not going back to any airport. This is a suicide mission.’” The passengers stormed the cockpit in an attempt to divert the plane from the the original target, which officials believed to be the nation’s capital, but a brawl ensued that led the plane to crash in a field. Flight 93 was the only plane that did not hit the hijackers’ target. According to the architect, preserving the voices of the victims was essential in the conception of the tower. “We wanted to do, I’ll call it a living memorial in sound, because the last memory of many of the people on the plane were through their voices on phone calls,” said Paul Murdoch, USA Today reports. “And we wanted to use the natural forces of the site to activate the chimes.” President Trump is expected to attend a memorial ceremony Tuesday in Shanksville.