Seedlings Take Root in Field Honoring 9/11 Victims of Flight 93

Volunteers walk in the field where Flight 93 crashed while planting 11,000 seedlings. Some of them are carrying the seedlings in buckets. A row of orange shovels are stuck in the ground beside the volunteers.
Volunteers planted more than 11,000 seedlings in the field where Flight 93 crashed on 9/11. Photo by National Park Service

Thousands of tree seedlings dot a swath of land in southwestern Pennsylvania that is a former mining site.

Stately red oaks, fast-growing American chestnuts and at least 13 other species of trees will take root and grow as part of the "Plant a Tree at Flight 93" project created to honor victims of the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93, according to The Washington Post.

About 500 volunteers came out over a recent weekend to plant more than 11,000 seedlings in the field where Flight 93 crashed on 9/11, killing all aboard, including 33 passengers and seven crew.

Henry Scully, the executive director of the Friends of the Flight 93 National Memorial, said the tree plantings will help make the site a place of respect and tranquility.

"It will help us heal this scarred land where the crash site is," Scully told the newspaper. "It is all part of the healing process."

The first planting began in 2012. It drew more than 500 volunteers who planted more than 14,300 seedlings across 20 acres.

The Flight 93 memorial surrounds the area where the jetliner crashed. The tree plantings are part of a reforesting effort that will provide a natural windbreak for the memorial.  

In New York City, the 9/11 Memorial has more than 400 trees planted on its plaza. Some trees were harvested from areas impacted on 9/11, including Pennsylvania. The names of the crew and passengers of Flight 93 are inscribed together in bronze surrounding the enormous twin reflecting pools of the lower Manhattan memorial.   

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

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