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Locals visit United 93 Memorial, meet Interior Secretary on 9/11
(SHANKSVILLE, PA.) – Nearly 50 local veterans stopped at the Flight 93 National Memorial in rural Pennsylvania.
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks that claimed the lives of 2,977 Americans.
United 93 was among the airplanes that were hijacked and the passengers learned that the terrorists were intending to crash it in Washington, D.C.
Todd Beamer was a passenger and his final words were “Let’s Roll” before he and others fought back and prevented the plane from reaching its intended target. The plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Another one of the heroes on that plane was Tom Burnett who had a direct connection to Janet Wilson, who was a history teacher at St. Louis School in Batesville at the time.
(Editors Note: I was an 8th grader in Mrs. Wilson’s class that morning and recall her fearing not only the attack, but also she knew her friend, Tom Burnett, was flying that day. Watch that video here:)
Southeastern Indiana Veterans Trip
Vietnam veteran and Indian Military Hall of Fame member PG Gentrup organizes an entirely-free annual trip to Washington, D.C. for veterans and their spouses.
There are also some non-military members that take the trip as well.
The bus pulled into Shanksville on Friday afternoon and the trip attendees paid their respects to the September 11 heroes.
While there, several local people had the opportunity to meet U.S. Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum who was part of a ceremony earlier in the day.
Some people who got to meet the Secretary included Rising Sun student Duke Perfect, Harrison students Tessa and Raya Ziegler, PG Gentrup, and others.
It was a somber day at the national memorial as families of the victims, first responders, and people from around the country visited there to pay their respects.
The group is now traveling to Washington where they will visit war memorials and other sites this weekend.
Here are photos from the visit to the Flight 93 National Memorial:
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