Friends and family of Pa. crash victims say goodbye

By Charles Sheehan

Associated Press

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. – Weeping relatives of the victims aboard United Flight 93 left photographs and other mementos today on a makeshift memorial of hay bales in the Pennsylvania field where the hijacked plane went down.

Several hundreds yards from the crash site, dozens of friends and family members left candy, baseball caps, a flight attendant’s jacket and even teddy bears, said two Salvation Army officials who attended the service.

“All we could do is be there and pray for them,” Salvation Army Maj. Ed Pritchard said.

The site includes hanging flags representing the backgrounds of the victims. A Japanese woman bowed to the Japanese flag several times, then ran back to the hay bales and picked up her son’s photo.

“She was calling out his name. She was in tears,” Salvation Army Maj. Richard Zander said.

A clergy member told the sobbing family members to remember the words of Winston Churchill, “Never give up.” When the service was over, Zander said, “it was like they wanted to linger there.”

The Boeing 757 was the last of four hijacked jetliners to crash last Tuesday. It was headed from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when it made an abrupt turn near Cleveland and veered back across Pennsylvania before crashing in Shanksville, killing all 44 aboard.

A number of passengers were able to make phone calls from the jet, including several who said they planned to storm their captors.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., has suggested posthumously awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to passengers aboard the flight. The medal is the nation’s highest civilian honor.

On Monday, state police troopers saluted a caravan of six buses carrying the victims’ families arrived at the field 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. As the buses left about 90 minutes later, some inside flashed the “V” sign to onlookers, while others waved at Red Cross officials.

At a second memorial service several miles away, there were vials of soil from the crash site for mourners to take home. Those in attendance struggled against the wind to keep their candles lighted, and many wore white ribbons in memory of their lost loved ones.

“One of last Tuesday’s victims, in his final message to his family, said that he loved them and that he would see them again,” first lady Laura Bush told about 300 people. “You grieve today, and the hurt will not soon go away. But that hope is real, and it’s forever, just as the love you share with your loved ones is forever.”