For volunteers, Flight 93 Memorial 'like a phoenix rising'

Retired elementary school teacher Kathy Lioi is among dozens of volunteers who walk the grounds and tell the story of United Airlines Flight 93 and its ending on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I want to tell people about its history. It’s hard not to feel a part of this place,” said Lioi, a Somerset County native who for nine years has shared the story of the airplane’s passengers-turned-heroes. She’s found an unexpected calmness can settle into visitors at the 1,000-acre site.

“It brings you a sense of personal gratitude and peace. It is so serene and meditative here. People think about their own life and their trials and tribulations, and there is a kind of rebirth,” Lioi said.

Special ceremonies are planned Wednesday to commemorate 23 years since the terrorist attacks that killed 2,977 people at the World Trade Center towers in New York City, the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., and the site in Somerset County. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at 12:45 p.m. at the Wall of Names at the Memorial Plaza.

The Associated Press reports that former President Donald Trump is also scheduled to make an appearance at the Flight 93 Memorial.

The local observance begins at 9:45 a.m. with the reading of the names of 40 passengers and crew members of Flight 93 and the ringing of bells in their honor. They learned of the earlier attacks that morning and banded together to thwart the plans of four al-Qaida terrorists who hijacked their plane. It crashed into reclaimed strip mine land about 18 minutes in flight time from the nation’s capital, killing all aboard.

On hand to help with the large crowds anticipated for the 9/11 anniversary will be about 350 volunteers under the auspices of the Park Service, said Katherine Hostetler, Park Service public information officer.

“Their story needs to be told with genuineness. The visitors that come here have an innate interest in Flight 93,” said Lioi, who explains the events of that day more than two decades ago and offers insights into the design of the memorial.

Unlike the 9/11 memorial sites in crowded Washington, D.C., and New York City, the Flight 93 National Memorial is a destination unto itself for visitors, Lioi said.

“People chose to come here. Somerset (county) is coal and farms. They have an emotional tie and want to learn more about it,” she added.

The Wall of Names — 40 polished marble panels inscribed with passengers and crew members — is a common place for people to leave tributes, Lioi said.

Earlier this week, someone left eight sea shells in memory of Honor Elizabeth Wainio, a 27-year-old Baltimore native living in New Jersey when she boarded United Flight 93 at Newark, N.J., destined for San Francisco before the plane was turned around near Cleveland.

On one of the shells, the anonymous donor wrote, “Dear Honor, I never knew you personally, but I had heard you love sea shells. This is for you, in honor of Honor.”

“People bring tributes and leave something every time of the year. Someone buys roses for each of the 40 panels,” Lioi said.

That’s part of the beauty that Lioi sees in the Flight 93 Memorial.

“It’s like a phoenix rising out of the ashes. Out of the ashes has come something we can preserve,” Lioi said, referring to the mythical golden bird whose rise from the ashes symbolizes hope, life and better things to come.

Teaching students

Jeannette and Greater Latrobe are among the 250 schools in 28 states with some 17,000 students that have registered for the Teach to Remember virtual program, said Donna Gibson, executive director of the Friends of the Flight 93 National Memorial, a nonprofit partner to the National Park Service.

The Friends group worked in partnership with the Park Service last year to create the National Day of Learning.

“We want them to learn about the history so it does not repeat itself,” Gibson said.

At Jeannette Junior-Senior High School, Rose Gutowski, an eighth grade social studies teacher, said she is using part of the virtual tour program provided by the Friends organization.

It is important to teach students who were not alive at the time about the events of 9/11, to show them what that day meant for their parents and other adults around them and show how our country changed as a result, Gutowski said.

“The entire world changed because of the attacks of 9/11. It may have been a tragedy that affected Americans more than other countries. but the effects have been felt around the world,” said Gutowski, who is in her second year of teaching.

“That day brought people together and brought back a sense of unity within the country at a time when the country was divided,” Gutowski noted. “If people were to forget how tragic that day was and become desensitized to the magnitude of 9/11, then that sense of unity is lost. The only way to not allow that to happen is to continue to teach for remembrance.”

Fifth grade social studies and science teacher Jon Teslevich at Greater Latrobe’s Baggaley Elementary School said he intends to use part of a previous Teach to Remember program in his classroom on Wednesday and has developed a lesson plan focused on the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

“You can never forget. It is part of who we are as a country,” said Teslevich, who was teaching in a Maryland school about 30 miles south of Washington, D.C., on 9/11. He recalled that several of his students had parents who worked at the Pentagon and the stream of cars of family members that day picking up children from the school.

“My focus is the idea behind these people (on Flight 93), making the sacrifices they made that day,” Teslevich said.

A group of about 50 Greater Latrobe Senior High School students are scheduled to visit the Flight 93 National Memorial on Oct. 28, said Brad Wetzel, Greater Latrobe Senior High School social studies teacher. The National Park Service ranger will walk the students through the day and the events that unfolded, and take a walking tour of the grounds and the museum, Wetzel said.

”Many of our students have never visited the Flight 93 Memorial. We made a promise to ‘Never Forget’ over 20 years ago, and this is one way we keep up on our end of that promise,” Wetzel said. “It leaves an indelible impression on the students.”