by Berl Colley
As I write this, the Pittsburgh convention is a month in our past, but all the folks whom we worked with to put together ACB's 2003 tour package are still very much present in our thoughts. To people like Marie Keane, Gene Barton, Michael Zaken, Jay Doudna, as well as many others from the Golden Triangle Chapter and the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind, all of us who went on tours in and around Pittsburgh owe you a debt of gratitude and many appreciative thanks for your suggestions and your help.
Those of us who chose to go on this year's pre-convention tour found the experience especially fulfilling and spiritually rewarding in ways none of us could have anticipated. After visiting the Johnstown Dam site and city museum where we learned about the tragic flood that killed 2,200 people in a period of only about 10 minutes, we had a fine lunch and visited the Heritage museum where we interactively shared in the immigrant populations' experiences as they moved to western Pennsylvania.
We'd had a full morning, but when it was time to head back and we asked our busload of passengers if any had an interest in stopping by Shanksville, the crash site of United Flight 93 (the fourth plane to have been highjacked on the morning of September 11, 2001), the answer was a resounding, unanimous "Yes!"
Karl, our bus driver, was agreeable, so we took the Shanksville turnoff on Highway 219 and drove to the crash site viewing area. Our tentative plan was to spend 10 or 15 minutes there. Those who didn't want to read the memorials and get a feel for the site could stay on the bus.
The crash site is a distance of three football fields from the viewing area which has been populated by a number of items left spontaneously by members of the general public in tribute. It was about 5 p.m. on July 4 when we broke into small groups to have some of the tributes read aloud. As readers began to describe the items which had been left in tribute and to read the words scrawled on message boards erected throughout the area, sighted guides and ACB members alike became choked with emotion. People have left money, clothing, verses, and all manner of keepsakes. There are hundreds of American flags and patriotic items.
Our hearts were filled with additional pride when Bob, a volunteer docent, told us about his personal experience on the morning of Flight 93's crash. We learned that 92 percent of the remains of the plane's passengers are still buried in the ground and the site is considered to be a burial ground. Some of our group brailled out messages to be placed on viewing boards. Some left personal items. All of us returned to our tour bus thoughtful and proud to be blessed as citizens of the United States of America.
And our plans for making our visit a short 10- or 15-minute stay? Our tour of the crash site of United Flight 93 lasted about an hour and a half. As our tour bus carried us back to Pittsburgh, we passed the time singing patriotic songs, and thanking God and America's heroes, like those on that doomed flight, for the blessings we all shared on a truly memorable Independence Day.