SHANKSVILLE, Pa. -- A bell tolled 40 times Wednesday, once for each victim of Flight 93, as thousands solemnly gathered in a western Pennsylvania field to remember passengers and crew hailed as "citizen-soldiers" for struggling to take back their hijacked plane from four terrorists.
The tolling, accompanied by the reading of each victim's name, led up to the moment that the plane crashed at 10:06 a.m. last Sept. 11. It followed a minute of silence for world peace and a fly-over of the crash site by three military planes.
More than 500 relatives and friends of the 40 victims came to the field near tiny Shanksville to take part in the ceremony.
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said the nation owes its gratitude to the passengers who fought back.
"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," Ridge said. "In a field in rural Pennsylvania, right prevailed over wrong and hope was born again."
His remarks were followed by a 21-gun salute and the release of 40 doves.
Flight 93 crashed in a grass field next to a line of trees, far from the devastation in New York and at the Pentagon. Investigators said people on board confronted their four hijackers and brought down the flight far from some intended target in Washington, D.C. It was the only one of four planes that crashed Sept. 11 that didn't kill anyone on the ground.
The ceremony was awash in patriotic themes. Ridge, who stepped down as Pennsylvania governor after the attacks to serve as President Bush's homeland security director, called the passengers "America's 21st Century patriots." His successor, Gov. Mark Schweiker, said the passengers proved Americans wouldn't stand aside for terrorists.
"It was here that freedom took its first stand. They decided their fate wasn't in the hands of the terrorists, it was in their own," he said.
There were also tender moments. Murial Borza, an 11-year-old who lost her half-sister, Deora Bodley, asked for the minute of silence for world peace. Sandy Dahl, the wife of Flight 93 pilot Jason Dahl said, "If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate."
In the year since the hijacking, a temporary memorial near the crash site has attracted thousands of people -- many bringing flags, dolls, photographs and flowers.
Bush visited the site at just after noon, bowing his head for several moments alongside first lady Laura Bush while a Marine laid a wreath as trumpeters played "Taps." He met with families at the actual crash site, which is off-limits to the public and enclosed behind a metal fence.
On Tuesday, 13 buses carried the family and friends to the site, and preparations for Wednesday's ceremony were halted to give the mourners a measure of privacy.
"The most important thing to me is that we do not forget," said Hamilton Peterson of Bethesda, Md., whose father and stepmother were killed.
Click here for the Flight 93 Memorial Web site.
For churches, groups and organizations, click here for Sept. 11 memorial services, information.The Pittsburgh Symphony and Mendelssohn Choir are holding "A Concert for Heroes" at Pittsburgh's Heinz Hall, with proceeds from the $50-per-ticket event going to the Somerset County Flight 93 Memorial Fund. It is reportedly sold out.In Downtown Pittsburgh, about 200 people crowded onto the steps of the City-County Building and the nearby sidewalk for a ceremony with a moment of silence and the reading of the names of the Flight 93 victims. Click here to watch video clips of that ceremony.Copyright 2007 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
