WALL OF NAMES:AS DUSK settled over the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night, a group of 70 United flight attendants in their crisp blue uniforms came to stand vigil for their five colleagues who went down with the aircraft on September 11th, 2001.
The attendants had all worked together out of Newark International Airport, from which flight 93 departed that day. They have reunited here periodically over the past decade, but like everyone else, they saw the new marble Wall of Names memorial for the first time at its unveiling on Saturday.
Standing by the wall, they all linked hands and prayed, distinctive not only for their uniforms but for their tidy hair, polished nails, dark stockings and heels.
Kathy Shoup (60), who has been a United flight attendant since 1977, said she needed to keep coming back to the site of the crash but did not know why. “I’ve never had closure,” she said. “It is impossible to have closure when every day you get on a plane and you are the first line of defence.”
She and two other attendants, Laura Layton (57), who has worked for United since 1991, and Shellee Fowlerking (61), with United since 1992, reminisced about their friends who were killed when terrorists took over flight 93. They have developed a special closeness, they said, holding “jump-seat therapy” sessions with one another all the time.
As they talked, the memorial plaza was filled with nearly 3,000 luminaria, small candles in white bags, for all of the victims of the 9/11 attacks. The candles were lined up along the walkway facing the spot where flight 93 crashed.
On the wall, the names of the flight attendants on flight 93 were reflected in the darkness: Sandra Bradshaw, Deborah Welsh, CeeCee Lyles, Wanda Green and Lorraine Bay. – ( New York Timesservice)