SHANKSVILLE, PA (Toledo News Now) - Within a five hour drive from Toledo, people can visit some of the most hallowed ground in the country.
About 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania is one of the focal points of this week's remembrances from the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Through a wooden fence, visitors see the final resting place of the passengers and crew of United Flight 93. The view is one part of the Flight 93 Memorial, one of the newest national parks.
The stars and stripes fly proudly at the park, in honor of the heroes who learned what happened to the other airliners and decided to fight back against the terrorists who hijacked their plane.
Outdoor exhibits show how the passengers decided to do something about their plight, fighting back against the terrorists to prevent another strike on America.
A memorial plaza was built in the years after the crash and lines the 40-acre site.
"While they recovered most of the plane, very little of the remains of the passengers and crew were recovered from the site. And so the coroner's office determined that whole 40-acre area was their burial ground." said Brendan Wilson, the lead ranger for the Flight 93 National Memorial.
Visitors can read about what happened and walk with other Americans and people from all over the world, reflecting on their sacrifice.
On Thursday, a new visitor's center was dedicated at the memorial to learn more about what happened.
Outside the center, there is a flight path platform that visitors can stand on and look down into where Flight 93 went down.
There's also a smaller enclosed building outside of the main center that allows people to look down into the flight path.
But the focal point of the memorial is the boulder that marks the point of impact in a grove of hemlock trees.
Chuck Dail of Omaha, Nebraska had to take off his sunglasses and wipe his eyes of tears, after talking about what he experienced the memorial.
"Oh, I think it's important for everybody to understand what transpired and what took place on that day, that's for sure. It has changed everybody's lives," said Dail.
The Wall of Names is one of the most striking features of the memorial and is a constant reminder of the cost of that day of terror. It is also a promise that their memories will live on.
At the memorial, WTOL came across a button, remembering one of the victims, Colleen Fraser. A family member may have just been there.
"They come, as all family members and 9/11 families do, from across the world. They deal with loss in their own ways. Some come here quite regularly," Wilson said.
Dail said it is worth the time and effort to get to the memorial."Most definitely visit and take the opportunity to learn about this. Especially for the younger people that weren't around then," said Dail.
Also left behind the day of WTOL 11's visit, was a small model of the U.S Capitol. It was likely a "thank you" to Flight 93 for saving the likely target of the terrorists' plot that day.
Find more on the Flight 93 Memorial here.
