Bloomberg Tours Site Of Flight 93

SHANKSVILLE, PA. — Mayor Bloomberg toured the Flight 93 memorial site yesterday, the first of two stops designed to commemorate the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Only a handful of visitors were at the crash site in Shanksville as Mr. Bloomberg presented officials with an American flag that had flown over ground zero. The flag was then raised at the Flight 93 site, about 65 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

Flight 93 was en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco on September 11, 2001, when it crashed as some passengers apparently tried to rush the cockpit of the hijacked airliner. All 33 passengers, seven crew members, and the hijackers died.

Mr. Bloomberg said Shanksville and New York City shared in the losses of that day, and he spoke of the importance of memorializing the events and victims, even if costly.

"They are people you don't know, but they are human beings just like you and me," Mr. Bloomberg said. "We have an obligation ... to tell our children and grandchildren what happened and the heroism that people exhibited. Part of that is on the plane that went down here."

A sister of flight victim Colleen Fraser, Christine Fraser, said seeing Mr. Bloomberg and his reaction to the memorial was meaningful.

"I was so pleased to hear that he wanted to come out and see for himself what this place is," she said.

Construction of a $58 million permanent memorial at the site and national park is scheduled to begin by 2009.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for the 10-year anniversary of the attacks two years later. The park will encompass 2,200 acres, of which more than 1,350 acres include the crash site, debris field, and land needed for visiting the national memorial. Another 907 acres would comprise the perimeter around the memorial.