Up & Coming Weekly

September 07, 2021

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM SEPTEMBER 8-14, 2021 UCW 13 COVER Memorials at the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Flight 93 crash site honor the lost, highlight American resilience and resolve a STAFF REPORT Among the more indelible images to emerge on September 11, 2001, was the sight of two planes crashing into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center. Still photos and video footage of those planes were the first images of the attacks many Americans saw, and no one who watched events unfold that morning will ever forget those images. ough both the North and South Towers fell on that day, today the site where each tower once stood is a serene retreat in the bustling lower Manhattan neighborhood that was shaken to its core on the day of the attacks. e 9/11 Memorial was designed by architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker. ier proposal was chosen in a design competition that featured 5,201 submissions from 63 countries. e 9/11 Memorial is located on the western side of the formal World Trade Center where the Twin Towers once stood. Two enormous reflecting pools are part of the Memorial Plaza, which is where the North and South Towers once stood. e pools feature the two largest man-made waterfalls in North America. Around the edges of the pools, the names of people who were killed in the 9/11 attacks in New York, the Pentagon, on Flight 93, and in the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center are etched in bronze. In recognition of the crash sites, 400 swamp white oak trees were selected from nurseries located in New York, Penn- sylvania and near Washington, D.C. ese trees are located throughout the Me- morial Plaza, providing a peaceful respite separate from the surrounding city. e Memorial Plaza also includes one Callery pear tree. at tree was discov- ered at Ground Zero weeks after the attacks and it was severely damaged. e tree, now known as the Survivor Tree, was nursed back to health by members of the New York City Parks and Recreation Department and returned to the World Trade Center site in 2010, where it still stands as an enduring symbol of resil- ience and perseverance. e 9/11 Memorial is free and open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. More infor- mation about the 9/11 Memorial and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum can be found at www.911memorial.org. At 9:37 a.m. on September 11, 2001, five hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. All 53 passengers and six crew members perished in the crash, and an additional 125 military and civilian personnel on the ground were killed in the fire caused by the crash. e Pentagon Memorial was created to honor the 184 people whose lives were lost at the Pentagon on 9/11, as well as their families and all those who sacri- fice to protect and preserve the freedom of Americans. e design was developed by architects Julie Beckman and Keith Kaseman, and chosen from 1,100 submissions. e Pentagon Memorial sits on two acres of land just outside where Flight 77 struck the build- ing. e memorial includes 184 benches dedicated to each of the victims. e benches are organized in a timeline of their ages, stretching from the youngest victim, 3-year- Dana Falkenberg, to the oldest, 71-year-old John Yamnicky. Each bench is engraved with a victim's name and arches over a shal- low reflecting pool of water, lit from below. e benches for the passengers who were aboard the plane at the time of the crash are positioned so visitors will face the sky when reading the victim's name. e benches dedicated to the victims who were inside the building are positioned so their names and the Pentagon are in the same view. A curved wall known as the Age Wall also is a significant part of the memorial. e wall increases in height from 3 inches to 71 inches to represent the ages of the victims. Eighty-five paperbark maple trees were clustered throughout the memorial. e trees will eventually grow to 30 feet, providing a canopy of shade over the memorial. e Pentagon Memorial is free and open seven days a week year-round. More information about the Memorial is available at https://washington.org/find-dc- listings/national-911-pentagon-memorial. At 10:03 a.m. on September 11, 2001, the last of four planes that were hijacked earlier that morning crashed into a field near the town of Shanksville, Penn- sylvania. e people behind the 9/11 attacks later claimed the hijackers who commandeered the plane intended to crash it into the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., but passengers and crew stormed the cockpit, prompting the hijackers to crash the plane into the field, which is less than 20 minutes' flying time to Washington, D.C. e efforts of passengers and crew onboard Flight 93 were nothing short of heroic. ough everyone aboard the flight perished in the crash, the attack on the U.S. Capitol was thwarted, saving untold number of lives. All passengers and crew on board Flight 93 were awarded a Congressional Gold Medal on Septem- ber 11, 2014. e Flight 93 National Memorial is located in Stonycreek Township in Som- erset County, Pennsylvania, roughly two miles north of Shanksville. e memo- rial was opened to family members of the victims on September 10, 2015, and is now open to the public daily from sunrise to sunset. e Flight 93 Advisory Com- mission, which included family members of the victims as well as design and art professionals and community leaders, chose a design proposal by Paul Murdoch Archi- tects and Nelson Byrd Woltz Archi- tects from among 1,100 entries. e Flight 93 National Memo- rial includes the Tower of Voices, a 93-foot-tall musical instrument that holds 40 wind chimes, one to represent each of the 40 pas- sengers and crew members who perished in the crash. e tower is located on an oval concrete plaza that includes two curved concrete benches facing the opening of the tower. It is surrounded by concentric rings of white pines and deciduous plantings. A live webcam of the Tower of Voices can be viewed at https://www. flight93friends.org/plan-your-visit/webcams. ere is also a Memorial Plaza that features the Wall of Names, which is made up of 40 white polished marble stones inscribed with the names of the passen- gers and crew aboard Flight 93. e Memorial Plaza extends one-quarter mile alongside the area where Flight 93 crashed. Visitors can walk along the Memo- rial Plaza and view the impact site, including a grove of eastern hemlock trees that were damaged by the crash. A gap in the tree line is still visible and serves as a lasting "scar" of the crash. More information about the Flight 93 National Memorial is available at https://www.nps.gov/flni/planyourvisit/index.htm. Editor's Note: Visitors are urged to contact the Memorials in advance due to potential restrictions or closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. (National Park Service photo of the Tower of Voices by K. Hostetler) (e 9/11 Memorial in New York City) (DOD photo of Pentagon Memorial by Lisa Ferdinando)

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