SHANKSVILLE — A muscular type in a black leather vest and jeans, Navy medic Lance Chennault sat in the sand and gravel before a few memorial stones and before the field where the plane crashed.
Taking medallions out of plastic containers and methodically placing them on three folded American flags, he appeared to be assembling something.
He was making a tribute.
With a shaken voice, he said he was taking tokens to each Sept. 11 site for friends and photographing them.
“I’m taking a piece of something for those who couldn’t be here today,” he said.
Chennault joined more than 700 bikers of the sixth annual America’s 9/11 Ride to the temporary memorial Thursday. The rides, which lead participants to Shanksville, the Pentagon and New York City, began after the terrorist attacks in 2001.
Though he feels that the heroes aboard United Flight 93 likely saved his life, Chennault saw the crash site for the first time Thursday. The 36-year-old was working at the Capitol on Sept. 11, 2001, when he saw the Pentagon-bound plane pass overhead.
“It’s touching,” he said. “I feel especially connected to these people.”
Like the hundreds of others there listening to a brief ceremony, he immediately fell silent when the Greater Pittsburgh Police Bagpipe and Drums bellowed a version of Taps.
While the riders were making their way past corn fields and the little white Flight 93 Chapel, hundreds of community members gathered to eat, drink and listen to bands like Donnie Iris and the Cruisers and Sidewinder and Giants of Science.
The local Fraternal Order of Police organized the gathering to raise money for the Flight 93 National Memorial and to honor the police officers who join and lead the ride annually. The FOP is planning to change its name from the Roof Garden Lodge to the Flight 93 Lodge 98.
Jerry Klue, a police officer from Cleveland, said the gesture for a community event is appreciated. It was his second year to join the trek, but the feelings were just as strong as the first time, he said.
“This is not going away,” he said. “This is not over.”
The trip to Shanksville, for him, is the beginning of a solemn reminder.
“It’s the beginning of all the hard things that happen over the next three days,” he said. “We do this as a reminder, because the people of the U.S. are too forgiving and too forgetting.”
The motorcycle convoy will meet at 7:30 a.m. today at Highland Harley-Davidson in Somerset to depart for Cumberland, Md., en route to the Pentagon.
Local News
Bikers ride to remember Sept. 11
- Local News
-
-
Proposed bill would expand use of traffic-light cameras
Some call it the hand of “big brother,” others are convinced cameras at signal lights would be effective in curbing red-light runners and ultimately saving lives.
-
Minister's trial date set
An issue has been resolved over the report from an examination of a girl allegedly taken by her mother to a Bedford motel to have sex with a traveling minister, clearing the way for a trial.
-
AP: Almost half of new veterans seek disability
America’s newest veterans are filing for disability benefits at a historic rate, claiming to be the most medically and mentally troubled generation of former troops the nation has ever seen.
-
Geistown beginning crime watch program
Residents will patrol Geistown streets in the coming weeks as part of a community watch program.
-
Persons of the Week: Nanty Glo vets will remember fallen comrades
Michael Kurtz, Tom Kasecky and Steve Kasecky will be among members of the Loy A. Douglass Post 3489 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Nanty Glo who will be honoring fallen veterans today, Memorial Day.
-
AG candidates face potential conflicts of interest
Both candidates for Pennsylvania attorney general have family ties that could pose a conflict of interest for the one who is elected as the state’s next chief legal officer.
-
Lawmakers: Capitol rallies unpersuasive
Nancy Richey stepped to the podium with a microphone at the Capitol rotunda with the hope that the right people would hear her message.
-
Richland closer to new chief
The search for Richland’s next police chief is winding down.
-
In brief: Thunderstorm downs trees, knocks out power
A late Sunday afternoon thunderstorm brought high winds, hard rain and hail to the Cambria-Somerset region.
- District Deaths May 28, 2012
- More Local News Headlines
-
Beryl Makes Landfall on Florida Coast
UN Blames Syrian Forces for Shelling Houla
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
