Today marks the 20th Anniversary of the attacks on 9/11 and with it, comes a lot of emotions. Children of some of the victims are coming forward with stories of loss, hope, and resilience. Some celebrities are revealing how they narrowly avoided falling victims to the tragedy themselves, like Mark Wahlberg who actually held tickets to the doomed Flight 93 at one point. Earlier today, Robin Roberts shared a powerful prayer for the Anniversary episode of “Good Morning America” all about forgiveness, keeping faith, and moving forward, together, as a unified country.
As a matter of fact, that day didn’t just affect the people directly involved. Instead, it changed the history and future of our very nation. From what we’ve seen, though, community and hope are strong today. In a stunning photo shared by NBC, a National Park Service Ranger honors the heroes of Flight 93 at the Wall of Names monument in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The Powerful Photo from the Flight 93 Monument
National Park Service Rangers have a pretty identifiable uniform. Everybody is familiar with their head-to-toe brown get-up accented by their bright yellow pocket badges. In fact, a ranger’s hat is pretty unmistakable. In a stunning snap captured by Gene Puskar, we see a fully decorated somber Ranger in a moment of reflection at the Wall of Names Monument. He bows his head out of respect for the Flight 93 heroes.
@suzi247365 provided one of the top comments in relation to the photo: “Unsung heroes who collectively decided “Oh no you won’t” and took their lives to save others. My heart will forever belong to you.”
@m_azita also joined the reflections: “I will never forget that day. The images of twin towers collapsing. People jumping off the burning buildings to their deaths. All etched in my head. The bravery of passengers to bring the plane, flight 93 down, diverted by hijackers for Capitol.”
You can take a look at the powerful image here:
A National Park Service ranger stands in front of the Wall of Names at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa. before a commemoration ceremony on 20th anniversary of 9/11.https://t.co/kOuY6pnjEK
— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 11, 2021
📷 Gene J. Puskar / AP pic.twitter.com/TqGXfPOXrC
The Survivor Tree
Also near the Flight 93 Monument is a beautiful Callery pear tree. After somehow surviving the events of 9/11, the tree became a beautiful symbol of resilience and life. Iowa’s softball team took to Twitter to commemorate last year’s visit to the memorial site. They even met a survivor (hero) there and got to listen to their story– a pretty powerful experience, for sure. At the end of the day, these stories matter for the mission to #NeverForget.
You can check out their pictures from the trip here:
Hope. Resilience. Unity.
— Iowa Softball (@iowasoftball) September 11, 2021
Last year, we had the privilege of visiting the 9/11 Memorial in NYC. At the Survivor Tree, we met an individual who had lived through that fateful day and learned about their experience. We will #NeverForget pic.twitter.com/tVNQhYWPBw
