On 9/11’s 25th anniversary, a Pennsylvania editor remembers Flight 93’s heroes — and the land that healed around them

SOMERSET COUNTY, Pa. — Wildflowers have reclaimed much of the meadow now, and the low hum of the afternoon is often the only sound near the boulder that marks where United Airlines Flight 93 came to rest. Yet for Tim Lambert, the place remains as vivid as it was 25 years ago.

Lambert is editor-in-chief of the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, part of the States Newsroom network. He grew up close to these rolling hills and later learned that his family’s land overlapped the crash site. In the years since, he has returned often. Each visit, he said, brings a mixture of grief and gratitude.

“It’s always hard to come back here, but it’s always a chance to remember the sacrifices made by the passengers and crew of Flight 93 on that day,” Lambert said. “I think it’s important 25 years later to remember what they did and why they did it. They decided to act on a day that America was under attack.”

The Flight 93 crash unfolded as part of a broader al-Qaida plot on Sept. 11, 2001. Hijackers flew two planes into the World Trade Center towers in New York City and a third into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. On United 93, terrorists seized control of the aircraft, but passengers and crew mounted a fight to regain the cockpit. The plane ultimately crashed in an open field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, instead of reaching what investigators believe was the hijackers’ intended target: the U.S. Capitol.

All 40 passengers and crew aboard died, along with the four hijackers. Their revolt has long been credited with preventing an even greater catastrophe, and their names remain at the center of one of the most visited memorials in the country.

At the time of the attacks, Lambert was working for WITF, a public radio station in Harrisburg. Late that afternoon, amid the chaos of the newsroom, he looked up at a television and saw a national correspondent standing at the corner of Lambertsville and Shanksville Road. The intersection stopped him cold.

“It was at that moment I stopped and thought, ‘Wait, we still own land near Shanksville, and it’s awfully close to that intersection,’” Lambert recalled.

The next morning, his father’s voice was on the answering machine. His dad had seen the crash site on television and recognized that the family property was part of it.

Lambert found himself in an extraordinary position. While journalists from around the world scrambled to cover the story, he was the only reporter with direct access to the Flight 93 crash site. The land gave him a singular vantage point, but it also came with responsibility.

“I was well aware that history was at the door, and I wanted to do things the right way,” he said.

In the days that followed, Lambert did more than report. He assisted first responders when he could and spent time with the families of the passengers and crew as they arrived to face an almost unimaginable scene. The plane had hit the ground at enormous speed and disintegrated, leaving a large crater and debris scattered across the field. Much of the aircraft was shattered into pieces no larger than a notebook.

More than 1,500 responders working under the direction of the Federal Bureau of Investigation recovered fragments of the plane: twisted metal, tires, seat frames, luggage, clothing. Although relatively few intact remains were found, authorities were able to identify the passengers and crew. For many families, the field itself became a cemetery, and they wanted it to stay protected.

The Flight 93 National Memorial honors that wish. The crash site remains off-limits to the general public; only family members and some park rangers can visit that exact ground. But visitors can walk along the memorial’s high concrete Wall of Names, etched with the people who died aboard the flight. A nearby museum offers a deeper look at their lives, with photographs, uniforms, jewelry and other personal objects donated by loved ones.

Betsy Keene, curator for the National Parks of Western Pennsylvania, which includes the memorial, said the museum’s mission is to make a sprawling national tragedy feel human.

“Families say they want their loved one to be remembered as an individual person, as more than just this one day,” Keene said.

The museum holds roughly 9,300 cataloged objects from the crash site and from families, including about 800 pieces of the aircraft itself. Those objects, Keene said, help visitors connect to the story.

“We want to have these objects to help people relate and to pull them into the story and to help them understand who these people were, what happened here, and what it meant to the world at the time,” she said.

Stephen Clark, superintendent of the memorial, said the park draws more than 400,000 visitors each year. He expects that number to hold as the 25th anniversary approaches and as another generation encounters the site for the first time.

“I think that this memorial, albeit 25 years, it’s still a glimpse. It’s still a blink of an eye in our nation’s history,” Clark said. “But I still think that even as the years roll on, this story will continue to be told.”

Lambert has had many chances over the years to meet family members who lost someone on Flight 93. As the anniversary nears, he said he plans to reflect on their stories and on the landscape that has slowly transformed around them.

“The memorial is beautiful. The memorial is very fitting. It’s a great tribute, and it’s a respectful tribute to the passengers and crew of Flight 93,” Lambert said. “But for me, I think about watching the land heal over the 25-year period.”

“To watch them sort of heal as the site heals through nature, and watch that sort of in tandem, is something that I will always think about anytime I look over that field,” he said.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star reporter Peter Hall contributed to this report. Stateline reporter Shalina Chatlani can be reached at [email protected].