[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 167 (Monday, November 9, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2752]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               FLIGHT 93 NATIONAL MEMORIAL GROUNDBREAKING

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN P. MURTHA

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Saturday, November 7, 2009

  Mr. MURTHA. Madam Speaker, on September 11, 2001, I was in the U.S. 
Capitol, where the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee was 
meeting to markup the annual defense spending bill. We watched on 
television as the two airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center 
Towers, and soon after, evacuated the building because another plane 
was headed in our direction.
  As I got outside, I saw the billows of black smoke rising in the 
distance from the Pentagon. The plane had actually hit a section of the 
Pentagon that had recently undergone significant renovations. I had 
previously earmarked funds to accelerate the building's renovation 
project, and I was told that had it not been for those improvements, 
the building would have suffered far greater damage and more lives 
would have been lost.
  It wasn't until later that morning that I had learned of another 
plane crashing into the quiet fields of Somerset County within my 
congressional district. There was little known about that flight, so 
the following morning, September 12th, I drove back to Pennsylvania and 
to Stonycreek Township.
  Looking out across this field, I saw no sign that an airplane had 
crashed here. There were no burning buildings or piles of rubble like 
we saw pictured in New York and at the Pentagon. All that remained in 
this field was smoldering earth and a charred tree line.
  I was quoted as saying, ``Somebody here was a hero, a passenger . . . 
or the pilot who would not fly on. There must have been a struggle. 
Some heroic individual brought this plane down.''
  I was right about a struggle, but I was wrong in saying ``some heroic 
individual brought this plane down.'' In fact, there were 40 heroic 
individuals aboard United Airlines Flight 93 that morning. Forty 
ordinary citizens, who together, decided to make an extraordinary 
sacrifice.
  In early 2002, I introduced legislation establishing a national 
memorial to honor the passengers and crew of Flight 93. Nearly 8 years 
later, I'm honored that we are breaking ground on a memorial that is 
both fitting of their sacrifice and contribution to our great Nation.
  I want to commend and complement Secretary Salazar and the National 
Park Service, the Families of Flight 93, our local and state officials, 
and all those involved with the planning and construction of the Flight 
93 National Memorial.
  Future generations will look out across this quiet Pennsylvania field 
and forever be reminded of the story of Flight 93 and the courage and 
sacrifice of her passengers and crew.

                          ____________________