SHANKSVILLE, Pa. – For years, Connie and Dave Steffy had talked about coming to the Pennsylvania site where Flight 93 crashed on Sept 11, 2001.

Sunday morning they found themselves among a quickly growing crowd in Shanksville who travelled from across the country to mark the 15th anniversary of that day – and remember the 40 crew members and passengers whose lives were lost.

“It’s hard to believe it has been 15 years,” said Dave Steffy of Reading, Pennsylvania. “This is a special place.”

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell stood before the crowd at the Flight 93 National Memorial on Sunday and read a few selected entries from the memorial’s guestbook, saying that the notes “put into context what we struggle to grasp.”

• “United you stood so we could live. You will never be forgotten. You have shown that normal, ordinary people can be true heroes,” one guest wrote.

• “I touched every name on the wall outside, as if it was like touching them, the way they touched me with their love and courage. I will never forget that day. I will never forget them,” wrote another.

• And from a 17-year-old guest, too young to remember the attacks: “You’ve all done a completely selfless act for the good of our nation. I was only two years old at the time, so I do not remember it happening, but that does not mean I’ve forgotten what you did. Thank you so much for your sacrifice.”

Jewell was one of several government officials and hundreds of who gathered at the memorial to honor the 40 passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93, who fought back against hijackers.

United Flight 93 crashed in rural Somerset County, averting an attack on Washington, D.C. Two other hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York that day.

“Certainly, the men and women of Flight 93 had no idea that they would be our nation’s heroes and heroines, or that they would lay down their lives for the nation on that day,” Jewell said. “…But we come together as their champions, because their actions saved the lives of untold numbers of people.”

The name of each passenger and crew member of Flight 93 was read, either by family members or by Somerset County Coroner Wallace Miller, who took charge of the crash site on Sept. 11, 2001. Sometimes, the family readers attached titles – “our dad,” “my daughter,” “beloved son and father.”

After each name was read, Shanksville-Stonycreek High School students Matthew Prosser and Gina Rhoads – neither of whom was yet born on the day Flight 93 crashed just north of their school – rang the Bells of Remembrance.

Gordon Felt, president of the Families of Flight 93, spoke during the ceremony. His brother, Edward Felt, was a passenger on Flight 93.

Felt emphasized the necessity of completing the Flight 93 National Memorial in his speech, saying it was the only way to ensure that the actions of the passengers and crew live on as an example to future generations.

“Most of us here today do not need marble walls, a tower of wind chimes or even a Visitor Center to remind us of the sacrifice here 15 years ago,” Felt said. “These structures and design aspects are not for us. They are for those that have forgotten. They are for tomorrow’s children, so that the events of Sept. 11, 2001 are not lost to history.

“Time will eventually erode all emotional connections to Sept. 11, and if there’s nothing left to remember beyond emotion, there is nothing left to remember. Please, don’t let Sept. 11 become just another day. I fear the day Sept. 11 is acknowledged on the nearest Monday, providing a long weekend and an excuse for an autumnal picnic.”

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey offered his personal gratitude to the heroes of Flight 93. On Sept. 11, 2001, he was working in the U.S. Capitol, commonly speculated to be the Flight 93 hijackers’ target. It’s quite possible, he said, that those aboard Flight 93 literally saved his life.

“Part of the story of Sept. 11, 2001, of course, is a story of darkness, of the most brutal and degraded aspects of humanity and of the many innocent lives lost at the hands of terrorists,” Toomey said. “But in the face of that darkness, Sept. 11 also reminds us of the best of humanity – the heroes who were all around us on that day.”

After the ceremony, many audience members walked down to the Memorial Plaza and the Wall of Names, near the crash site, or into the memorial’s Visitor Center, which opened to the public after a private assembly of Flight 93 family members.

A brief, solemn ceremony was held at the Wall of Names. The Navy Ceremonial Guard presented an American flag to the relatives of Flight 93 passengers and crew, then opened a gate in the wall and allowed them to visit the site of the impact, where they could pay their respects to their loved ones in private.

“Fight to remember, and let your remembrances guide the way you conduct yourselves in your everyday lives,” Felt said. “Tell stories of Sept. 11, and encourage a new generation to learn about that day. Be better, be braver, be stronger, more willing to stand against tyranny. Remember the lessons we learned on Sept. 11.”

Pesto writes for The Tribune Democrat in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.