Torch Adorns Flight 93 Chapel

PITTSBURGH -- The caretaker of a chapel near the United Flight 93 crash site unveiled what he calls "the torch of liberty" during a Veterans' Day service.

The Rev. Alphonse Mascherino, an unassigned Roman Catholic priest who oversees the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel, said the Statue of Liberty's torch inspired the monument.

The stainless steel torch sits on a 6-foot-tall base and is a 6-foot tall spiral pillar.

No ordinary light bulb will sit atop the torch. Mascherino plans to install a halogen bulb that will shoot out a beam that can be seen 10 miles away.

Mascherino also wants to install two billboards along the Pennsylvania Turnpike to explain the light.

The priest bought the abandoned chapel in January and began restoring the building using his own money.

Click here to learn more about the chapel.