At long last, the final hurdle remaining for the construction of the permanent memorial to the crew and passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 has been cleared.

Agreements have been reached regarding the purchase of the final parcels of land, including the impact site itself. And on Feb. 20, a public commitment was made to break ground and have the facility completed by the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

Although the announcement was attended by such luminaries as Gov. Ed Rendell and our state’s two U.S. senators (Arlen Specter and Bob Casey Jr.), the credit for this action lies solely and completely with the tireless and dedicated volunteers of the Flight 93 Advisory Commission, the Flight 93 Memorial Task Force, the Families of Flight 93, Joanne Hanley of the National Park Service, and the tough weather-hardened members of the Flight 93 Ambassadors, who have performed magnificently as the faces and voices for the fallen as they interact with the hundreds of thousands of visitors to the site.

I have to admit that for awhile, I was worried. There was the uproar concerning the design, and the dispute over the land purchase seemed to be hopelessly mired in mutual intransigence.

In addition, I was concerned over the tendency of some Americans toward selective amnesia.

Would this thing drag on until public apathy buried the whole idea of a memorial?

As it turned out, my fears were largely groundless. The design issues have been settled, although there are voices, including Tom Burnett Sr. (father of Flight 93 passenger Tom Burnett Jr.), being raised in opposition.

And with the latest news about the land, it appears that even hopeless intransigence eventually can be bridged.

But where I was really wrong was in my assessment of the American memory.

At the quarterly meeting last month of the Task Force in Somerset, a presentation was given by National Park Service ranger Adam Shaffer.

Probably no one, outside those who were in attendance, is aware that December, as cold as it was, was a record month for the temporary memorial: 2,595 visitors.

We all remember the arctic weather that descended on the Laurel Highlands during January. The National Weather Service said the area received around 30 inches of snow and was subjected to two ice storms. There wasn’t a day of relief from the icy knife of those incessant winds.

Most of us had to deal with those conditions just walking between our houses and cars and our workplaces, and the curious visit to pick over the corpse of Circuit City.

But out at the Field of Honor, the Ambassadors were there every day, gutting out the effects of the elements.

And despite the awful weather, 1,423 visitors still came to the memorial.

On what was indisputably the worst day of this winter, the day of the Big Ice Storm, with every piece of the memorial’s spartan architecture encased and frozen, visitors still showed up.

I’ve been a husband for some 30 years, so I’m familiar with the state of “being wrong.” Usually, it’s not a pleasant state. But in this case, I’m pleased to be there.

I will cheerfully admit to everyone that I vastly underestimated the depth of the American heart.

As the sky darkened and the sun set on Sept. 11, 2001, Americans across the country looked to that horizon and made a silent promise; the promise that “We Will Never Forget.”

With the double victory of the land deals and the public commitment made this past week, we can be assured that the memory of the singular courage of our 40 heroes will never fade.

Years hence, “… Reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not shall come to this field to ponder and to dream.

“And the power of that vision will pass into their souls.”

(Taken from a speech by Gen. Joshua Chamberlain in Gettysburg in 1889 upon receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service in the Civil War.)

Ralph Couey is a freelance writer living in Somerset. He is an occasional contributor to The Tribune-Democrat.