Flight 93 passengers represent all of us, says victim’s brother

Gordon Felt, the president of Families of Flight 93, on Tuesday said that the victims of the flight that crashed in Shanksville, Pa., on September 11 represent all Americans.

Felt, whose brother Ed died in the crash 17 years ago, said of the new “Tower of Voices” at the memorial site that the tower now has “40 chimes speaking for our loved ones.”

“For those that come to visit the memorial, they now will upon entering the site, first see this magnificent tower. A 93-foot tall musical instrument of 40 chimes speaking for our loved ones,” Felt said to Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball on “Rising.”

“They can go into the visitor’s center. They can read about those 40 unique heroes, each individual that represents all of us because it would have been any one of us,” he continued.

Felt’s comments come on the 17-year anniversary of the passengers on United Flight 93 fighting back against the plane’s hijackers, who were piloting the plane toward Washington, D.C.

The plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa., killing everyone on board.

The “Tower of Voices,” which is 93 feet tall and has 40 wind chimes, was officially dedicated on Sunday at the memorial.

Felt said he hopes the memorial will help educate future generations about the heroism displayed on September 11.

“When I was a student, I was learning about Pearl Harbor. These students will be learning about September 11, and it’s my hope and my wish that first and foremost we never forget. That we continue to tell the story of September 11,” Felt said.

“We tell the story of the heroism, the citizen soldiers who were willing to stand up and fight. Heroes that were willing to run into fiery infernos, heroes that were in those infernos that were helping others to escape. There were all kinds of examples of heroism on display that morning. They can be our inspiration moving forward,” he continued.

“My hope that when visitors leave Flight 93 National Memorial after they’ve learned about the events that took place here, they’ll ask themselves, ‘if it was me, could I have done what those 40 heroes did?’ And that’s the inspiration of this memorial,” he said.

President Trump and first lady Melania Trump are set to visit the memorial on Tuesday, marking the anniversary of September 11.

— Julia Manchester