For us, this chapel really brought home the feelings of the families of the heroes of United Flight 93. Located just 5 miles southwest of the Flight 93 National Memorial, you will find the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel on the corner of Stutzmantown Road and Coleman Station Road. We highly recommend that you take the time to visit here. The Chapel is located on the road leading to Shanksville, locally called the Boulevard of Heroes. The non-denominational Flight 93 Chapel is solely dedicated to remembering and honoring the courageous passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93, who sacrificed their lives for the United States.
We were fortunate to have Paul Angert (who was there volunteering on the Wednesday that we visited) tell us all about the chapel. Every Wednesday, Paul brings a trailer, a tractor, a mower and a weed trimmer to care for the property. He has been doing this for over 12 years. He said it is the least he can do in order to preserve what once was an abandoned Lutheran church before the late Rev. Alphonse Mascherino, a former Catholic priest, turned it into a building that now holds numerous artifacts and remembrances. He told us that he knew Father Al very well, and he never wants to see the chapel close. He gets up early and comes to the chapel and does not leave until after dark. He took the time to explain everything inside and outside of the Chapel, how Fr. Al dreamed of establishing this chapel, and how he came to purchase the former Mizpah church and the struggles they are having keeping it funded and open.
Funds were donated by Maggie Hardy Magerko of 84 Lumber Company, and crews worked around the clock for 11 days to complete the transition from a grain distribution center to a chapel -- just in time for the first anniversary memorial of Flight 93.
Each passenger and crew member is commemorated in a private room in the back of the chapel where candles and full-page descriptions about their lives and personalities are displayed. Around the outside of the room, though, are various artifacts that were donated by the heroes' families and other items given to the chapel from people all over the world. Among the items on display is a childhood dress worn by Honor Elizabeth Wainio, donated by her mother, and a model plane, donated by First Officer Leroy Homer's mother. Homer had made the model when he was just 11 years old. The chapel also contains quilts listing the Four Freedoms outlined in a 1941 speech by President Franklin Roosevelt as he prepared the nation for entry into World War II. There is an angel, too, in memory of the unborn child of Flight 93 passenger Lauren Grandcolas, 38, who was returning to her California home from her grandmother's funeral.
The front yard of the chapel includes a bell tower -- Maggie's Tower -- reaching to the sky. The tower holds the "Thunder Bell." The bell symbolizes the resounding message of the heroes of Flight 93 as the impact of their aircraft thundered across the hills and valleys. Visitors are reminded to sound the "voice of Flight 93" and ring the bell. A garden in the backyard includes a 16-ton, 14-foot-high black granite obelisk donated by the United Airlines Flight Attendants Cause Foundation and dedicated to the memory of the seven members of the flight crew who died when Flight 93 went down. Their photos are etched into the stone.. It is surrounded by benches with passengers' names engraved in them. Flags from every state in the union encircle the massive monument and pathway. This is truly a sacred memorial. May God Bless Them All. read more