On Sunday we will remember and honor the brave men and women that were on Flight 93 as part of the 9/11 commemoration.  Over the past 15 years the memorial has evolved.

“I mean this was an abandoned strip mine, so this area was a field,” Keith Newlin explains.  Newlin is the deputy superintendent for the Western Pennsylvania National Parks.

The crew and passengers aboard Flight 93 tried to take action in a less populated area he says.  After the plane crashed and no survivors were found, a makeshift memorial was started.

“I’ve got a scrunchie or I’ve got a flag, you know some people would be that spontaneous reaction, others would be planned.  They were coming here for a reason.  They brought a tribute for a reason and there were tributes there that were well planned.”

Over the past 15 years the memorial has grown to what it is today.  Last September the new visitor center opened.

“It’s done a lot to really start to bring this memorial to life and improve the visitation,” Brent Everitt, NPS public information officer, tells us.

“We’re trying to teach them what those people on that plane did in terms of teamwork, leadership, and honoring many different groups,” Friends of Flight 93 executive director Henry Scully says.

Although creating this tribute has taken time, those with the park service tell WTAJ they’re not done just yet.

By 2018 there will be a 93-foot-tall wind chime called the “Tower of Voices,” constructed near Route 30.

It’s the final feature of the Flight 93 Memorial, according to Newlin, “You hear the chimes, you think about the voices.”