Flight 93 Heroism And Memorial Poem by Deanna Samuels

It too, was like ours, a cloudless sky, the morning bright and blue
Late summer and early autumn encroaching, easing into the Fall
Foliage rapidly changing from green to shades of tan and burning gold
As with our morning, relaxed on a comfortable organized bus tour
Theirs too, started as an uneventful, normal everyday flight from Newark
The first miracle occurred; a twenty five minute delay on runway
Thus causing in due time the doubtless change in course of history
Into the air United Flight 93 rose, making its planned route to San Francisco
The seven crew and cabin staff carrying out their scheduled flight routine
Without warning, forty six minutes from take-off, four terrorists struck
Entered the cockpit, overwhelmed flight crew, took over controls
Turned Flight 93 round over east Ohio towards the Nation's Capitol
Flight crew, cabin staff and thirty three passengers were herded to the rear
All yet unaware of the catastrophic events that had already unfolded elsewhere
Quickly though, with frantic phone calls to loved ones down below
Revealed true horror of The Pentagon and fate of Twin Towers in New York
The second miracle began to crystallize, be formed, take shape
Understanding their precarious situation of this hijacking and certain death
Passengers and crew swiftly devised a plan -avert plane from intended target
The group united, stormed to flight deck, hammering and banging on locked door
The hijackers, taken by surprise at this sudden outburst of struggle, panicked
Knowing it would be but a few more seconds before door was breached
Deliberately flipped the plane, thus Flight 93 was coasting upside down
In this mode, it plunged to the ground at the frightening speed of 563mph
Crashing onto the open Pennsylvania countryside at an angle of 45 degrees
The impact so great, made crater 15 foot deep before bursting into ball of flame
All aboard perished in that instant moment, little but fragments of their bodies remained
But their brave heroism averted unknown, untold disaster - The Capitolat Washington DC
There we were,15 years later, overlooking the site, that tragic site of sacrifice
A United States National Memorial in Pennsylvania for all to visit, to see and revere
The field of impact now laid to lush green grass, a lone large boulder marks ground zero
Surrounding fields, thickets and woods beyond lay untouched, immortalized too
Safeguarding even the minutest remains of those downed heros, their final resting place
A long easy zig zag path takes visitors down through the natural wild nature habitat
Reaching base, the Wall of Names, white granite pillars, each hero's name engraved on one
A low walled walkway Memorial Plaza of black granite overlooks impact site on right
At intervals, hewn shelves carved within, photographs displayed, flowers for those gone
Walkway's end, a visitor shelter with plaza; Stands recount the tragic event of nine eleven
Most poignant, heart wrenching of all, photographs of all passengers and crew of Flight 93
They were real people, just like us, with lives and families, snuffed out in a single heartbeat
With heavy sadness, retraced steps along Memorial Plaza; a second visit to Wall of Names
Slowly walking up zig-zag path, my thoughts reached out to touched families for their grief
Black granite walkway to Visitor Centre portrays final yards of flight of that fated plane
At its very end, a panoramic Overlook of whole tragic scene lay before; a moment to reflect
Now a peaceful countryside view, almost belying the tragedy of 11th September 2001
We who were visiting, were able to go on our way, not so the heroic souls of Flight 93

(Mainly written following visit to Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania on 15th October 2016, completed at Richmond Hill, Ontario) .