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Saturday, December 01, 2001
By Ann Rodgers-Melnick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Any time of day or night that Somerset County Coroner Wallace Miller visits the crash site of United Flight 93, he sees lines of cars filled with people who have come to pray or leave a tribute.
There is no fitting memorial for them to visit, but that will change, Miller said at a news conference yesterday at the University of Pittsburgh to unveil Sept. 11 remembrance bracelets. They will be sold to raise money for a memorial at the crash site in Stonycreek Township.
People come not to weep over victims but to honor heroes who died fighting to save people on the ground, he said. The crash site is something like a cemetery and something like a battlefield, but has a character all its own.
Its dead "are perceived as American citizens who died defending their homeland. When has that happened except in the Civil War or the American Revolution?" he said.
The stainless-steel bracelets were the idea of state Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, who wore a POW bracelet as a child. Yesterday she stood dressed in red, white and blue as civic and business leaders stepped forward to endorse the project. Most had donated money or services.
Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey spoke of the adrenaline-charged horror of that Tuesday morning and how it was suddenly compounded when he learned of the crash so close to home.
"Americans will never forget that moment and I don't want to forget. I want to remember," he said.
A design for the memorial has not been chosen, Orie said. She would like to see one made of steel, preferably a replica of the aircraft, with the seat of each passenger and crew member labeled.
Allegheny Ludlum donated 900 pounds of steel for 10,000 bracelets, which will sell for $10. Each is individually engraved by workers at the University of Pittsburgh Manufacturing Assistance Center, but they will not carry a victim's name.
Although that was her first idea, "We felt that the bracelet should stand for all of the victims and all of the heroes," Orie said.
Each says, "We remember 9-11-01." Beneath that, some say "United we stand" and others say "Let's roll" -- the last known words of passenger Todd Beamer, who helped to lead the revolt against four terrorists who took over the plane. The four terrorists and the 40 passengers and crew members all died when the plane crashed on reclaimed strip-mine land in Somerset County.
All proceeds from the bracelets will go to the Flight 93 Memorial Fund through a Hearts of Steel account at Citizens Bank, a major donor to the project. Mentally handicapped workers at Family Services of Western Pennsylvania will do the packaging and shipping.
Checks may be made out to Hearts of Steel and sent to Hearts of Steel, c/o Family Services of Western Pennsylvania, 3230 William Pitt Way, Pittsburgh 15238-1361. Include the quantity of adjustable men's or women's bracelets and the shipping address. Delivery will take two to three weeks.
State Sen. Jane Orie at the unveiling of the stainless-steel "We remember 9-11-01" bracelets. (Jasmine Gehris, Post-Gazette)