First lady Jill Biden to speak Sunday at Flight 93 memorial service

The public once again will be able to attend the annual Service of Remembrance at Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County.

First lady Jill Biden will make her third visit in as many years to the site that honors 40 passengers and crew who were aboard United Flight 93 when it crashed on Sept. 11, 2001. She is set to deliver remarks after accompanying President Joe Biden during visits there in years past, according to White House pool reports.

It will be standing room only for members of the public during the hourlong event Sunday in the Stonycreek grassy field. The remembrance ceremony has been closed to the public for the past two years because of the pandemic.

The event will begin at 9:45 a.m. Sunday in the Memorial Plaza. The names of each passenger and crew member will be read at 10:03 a.m., the time Flight 93 crashed. A wreath-laying at the Wall of Names will conclude the program.

Details about other speakers at the event were not immediately available.

Shuttle buses for visitors will begin at 7 a.m. They will run until 2:30 p.m. The visitor center will be open until 7 p.m. Sunday.

The annual Heroes’ Walk, a fundraiser for the Friends of Flight 93, will be held at 10:03 a.m. Saturday at the park. Registration is available an hour before the event in the Memorial Plaza parking lot.

The weekend events commemorate the actions of those aboard Flight 93, who authorities believe took a vote and fought back against their hijackers after learning of three other plane crashes that morning in New York City and at the Pentagon.