SHANKSVILLE, Pa. -- Tom Ridge, President Bush's homeland security director and former Pennsylvania governor, delivered the following speech at the Flight 93 memorial service near Shanksville, Pa., on Wednesday:

Thank you, Governor Schweiker, for those moving words. And thank you for your leadership over the past year. The people of Pennsylvania -- I am one of them -- are grateful.

And God Bless you, Sandy, for that wonderful tribute to your husband and the rest of the heroes of Flight 93. One year later, the wave of courage you spoke of continues to ripple across the nation, spurring Americans to work harder and fight harder to defeat terrorism.

The last time I was here it was in my role as Pennsylvania's governor. Today I work on Pennsylvania Avenue. And I want to take this opportunity to thank my White House colleagues, more than a hundred of whom have come up for the day to pay their respects to the 40 men and women who just might have saved their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

We meet today, one year after that day, hearts heavy with grief, spirits lifted with pride. We smile at memories of lives lived to the fullest; we rage over lives extinguished so cruelly and callously.

Sometimes our own words are inadequate at times like this. So I turn to someone who always knew how to say the right thing. Abraham Lincoln. This is from his letter to Mrs. Bixby, a mother who lost five sons on the Civil War battlefield:

"I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom."

Your loved ones did not expect to serve the cause of freedom on that Tuesday morning. But serve it they did. Faced with the most frightening circumstances one could imagine, they met the challenge like citizen-soldiers -- like Americans.

Ordered by the terrorists to just be quiet and remain calm and their lives would be spared, they said no. The hijackers weren't playing by the rules, and this time, neither would they.

The terrorists were right to fear an uprising. The passengers and crew did whatever they humanly could -- rush the cockpit, boil water, phone the authorities on the ground -- to foil the attack.

The result was summed up by one of the messages left at the temporary memorial: "Thank you for saving my life."

There were no survivors in this field on Sept. 11. But I have no doubt that thousands of Americans survived that crash. And all Americans are grateful.

The heroes of Flight 93 could not know what the end result of their struggle would be. But they had faith that they were doing the right thing -- the honorable thing. And we need that faith now more than ever as America faces its own long struggle.

When George Washington lost to the British at Brandywine on Sept. 11, 1777, he did not know when or even if America would win its independence. When Abraham Lincoln wrote his letter to Mrs. Bixby, he could not be sure the Civil War would last four more months or 40 years. And we do not know how long it will take to defeat the scourge of terrorism -- or how many Americans will give their lives for the cause.

One thing we do know: the passengers and crew of Flight 93 won the first battle.

Sandy Dahl said that adversity does not build character; adversity reveals character. I believe that is true. And these 40 amazing people had character in abundance.

Everyday heroes? No -- heroes every day. These were people well-practiced in the art of making a difference. Whether it was restoring a shelter for battered women, volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center, tutoring elementary school students, becoming an activist for the disabled, or planning a year-long humanitarian sabbatical to India.

One crew member even used to save leftover airline meals to give to the needy.

They brought love and joy to so many. And as a husband and father myself, I can only imagine the pain their deaths have caused you -- a pain that will be relived every anniversary.

But today is not just for marking their deaths. Today is for celebrating their lives - and for expressing our gratitude for their actions.

The relatives and friends of those 40 brave souls should be comforted that in their final moments, their thoughts were with you. Your love sustained them. Your support gave them the courage to act. You maybe even put a smile on their face for a fleeting moment. And you were in their hearts as they entered heaven.

Today, I believe, we also honor a community. The people of Shanksville and Somerset County embraced the families of Flight 93 as their own. Through kindnesses large and small, they turned strangers into good, good friends.

This is a community that appreciates the historical legacy it's been handed. Just ask the "Flight 93 Ambassadors" who volunteer to answer visitors' questions -- including Mayor Ernie Stull! Or talk to the folks at the Somerset Historical Center who are cataloguing the mementos, flags and photographs left behind at the temporary memorial.

And we all look forward to a permanent memorial as grand and glorious as the lives it will commemorate.

Today we also honor the local first responders who were ready to treat the injured, as well as their sister companies in New York who suffered such tragic losses that day. They will not be forgotten.

Stephen Ambrose wrote that, "At the core, the American citizen-soldier knew the difference between right and wrong, and didn't want to live in a world in which wrong prevailed."

He was talking about World War II. But he could have been talking about Flight 93. They didn't ask to serve. But serve they did, and with honor. In a field in rural Pennsylvania, "right" prevailed over "wrong." And hope was born.

"The battle is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave." Patrick Henry said those words during the American Revolution. And the heroes of Flight 93 lived them out.

They were armed with little more than an idea: that freedom was something worth defending. The enemies of America may not know it yet -- but that is our secret weapon, too.

Thank you.