News Release

Flight 93 Response Personnel Revisit Site 20 Years Later

NPS C. Claycomb

News Release Date: September 29, 2021

Contact: Katherine Hostetler, [phone]

Shanksville, PA– On Friday, September 24, twenty years from when the field investigation concluded, first responders, investigators, and support staff returned to the Flight 93 crash site. Speakers included representatives from the Pennsylvania State Police, Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department, FBI Pittsburgh, Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT), National Park Service (NPS), and Flight 93 family members. Attendees represented 28 of the original 70 agencies that responded to the scene.

The September 11, 2001 criminal investigation is the largest case in FBI history. Local fire and Pennsylvania State Police officials reflected on Friday about the response and the changes within their community since 2001. A retired FBI agent shared a summary of the recovered evidence and a criminal prosecution timeline. An NPS museum conservator described the 2018 effort to retain objects from Flight 93 that help to tell the story of the passengers and crew members.

“The Flight 93 field investigation closed on September 24, and many of the responders, investigators, and support personnel left the site,” stated Flight 93 National Memorial Superintendent Stephen M. Clark. “Their visit today brings this community together, for the first time in 20 years to the day that the investigation closed.”

Flight 93 family members extended an invitation for guests to visit the crash site and final resting place of the passengers and crew members. FBI chaplains led a moment of silence and a brief prayer at the site. 

The afternoon ceremony honored those who responded to Flight 93 and the September 11, 2001, attack. “You took care of our loved ones and showed them the honor and respect they deserved,” said Kenneth Nacke, brother of Louis J. Nacke II. The National Park Service would like to thank the response community for their selfless contributions, acknowledging that their work here left a significant mark on their lives.

About Flight 93 National Memorial On September 24, 2002, Congress passed the Flight 93 National Memorial Act. The Act created a new national park unit to commemorate the passengers and crew of Flight 93 who, on September 11, 2001, courageously gave their lives thereby thwarting a planned attack on our nation's capital. The memorial is outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where Flight 93 crashed with the loss of its 40 passengers and crew. For more information about the Flight 93 National Memorial, please visit www.nps.gov/flni.