Trade Center steel 'cross' arrives in Shanksville
2011 is just too far away.
That's what Mike Adams thought about the latest timetable for completion of a permanent national memorial honoring the victims of United Airlines Flight 93 who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"It just seems like this rah-rah match between political dignitaries over how to complete this project has gone on for way too long," said Adams, 53, of Sussex County, N.J., regarding the legal and personal wrangling over the look and location of the planned memorial at the site of the airplane crash near Shanksville, Somerset County.
Adams, an avid motorcyclist, then learned of a grassroots effort by the Fire Department of New York City to gather a brigade of bikers. The purpose was to help them deliver a 14-foot-high, 3,000-pound, cross-shaped segment of the World Trade Center's North Tower to the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department for a memorial dedication. He jumped at the chance.
"The families of these victims, and those of the police and firefighters who all lost their lives that day ... their grief goes unrelieved," Adams said.
The terrorist attacks took the lives of 40 passengers and crew aboard the San Francisco-bound flight. All told, 2,974 died in the attacks, including 2,603 at the World Trade Center towers in New York City and 125 at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va.
In the aftermath, clues emerged suggesting that the Flight 93 passengers revolted against those who hijacked the plane -- a move that likely caused the crash in an open field in Stonycreek Township.
Ambitions soon turned to creating a proper symbol of remembrance at the crash site. More than six years later, the planned memorial remains unfinished. The cross dedicated yesterday, located at the local fire department, is not part of the proposed national memorial.
In Bloomsbury, N.J., Adams and five fellow members of the Gold Wing Road Riders New Jersey, Chapter G, joined an ever-swelling wave of leather-clad bikers Saturday on the "Iron and Steel -- NYC to Shanksville Motorcycle Run," which embarked at 5:30 a.m. from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.
The bikers escorted a flatbed truck carrying the sacred steel remnant and a refurbished 1926 FDNY Mack fire truck to be turned over to the local fire company.
"When we joined on, we could never see the beginning and we could never see the end," Adams said.
Roughly 300 miles later, the proud procession -- composed of roughly 600 people riding about 500 bikes -- roared into the borough Sunday for a 10 a.m. dedication of the steel remnant, which bears the 9/11 date and the message "Never Forget." It was planted in a concrete base in the shape of the Pentagon previously formed by Shanksville and New York firefighters near the North Street fire station.
"A nation that does not honor its heroes and soldiers will always be defeated by a nation that does. It's been that way down through the pages of history," said retired U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Mike "Bearman" Angelastro, the run's lead coordinator. "This effort has a cast of thousands."
The idea for the event came from retired Lt. Pat "Paddy" Concannon of the Fire Department of New York City. Concannon, who chairs the department's nonprofit Fire Family Transport Foundation, decided the steel cross was destined for Shanksville and offered it to the town's fire chief, Terry Shaffer.
"We wanted to find it a home, and to have that steel behind me now and knowing the work that went into it by so many ... I don't think anyone can truly appreciate it," said Concannon, adding that donations given during the ride will go to the foundation. "There's nothing like a grassroots effort. To the best of my knowledge, there's no politicians here today."
A crowd of about 1,500 on hand offered raucous applause to New York firefighter Regina Wilson, who sang a rousing rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Other patriotic songs were sung by 12-year-old Matthew Barndt of Somerset and Danny Conner of the Somerset Volunteer Fire Department Honor Guard. The Rev. Bob Way of nearby St. Mark's Lutheran Church and Msgr. John Delendick, chaplain of the City of New York fire department, offered blessings.
The names of all Flight 93 victims were read to the skirl of bagpipes.
"What a proud day to be a firefighter in America," Shaffer said.
And a day long overdue in Shanksville, said Adams' traveling partner, Jim Bredahl, 68, of Essex County, N.J.
"It made sense to come up with something to honor these people," Bredahl said. "We can see why they'd want to."
