A wall of names, a granite walkway and a 17 ton boulder mark the spot where Flight 93 crashed into a rural Somerset County field on September 11, 2001, but the memorial is far from complete. The first phase of the "Crescent of Embrace" design opened over the weekend, with two more phases to follow.
Families of the Flight 93 passengers and crew say they want to see the timely completion of a planned visitors' center and a tower of 40 wind chimes. However, the memorial's fund-raising foundation is $10 million dollars short of its goal. Former President Bill Clinton said he was aghast to hear the memorial still needs to raise money. "Speaker Boehner and I have already volunteered to do a bipartisan event in Washington, let's get this show on the road," said former President Clinton. "Let's roll."
Neil Mulholland, president of the National Park Foundation, said his staff is going to work around the clock to get a fundraising event scheduled, and that means looking at all sources of funding. "See, the federal government has a final $3.7 million that they're authorized to appropriate to this memorial, they still need to appropriate those funds. So, I think they're going to get a lot of encouragement to finish that off, especially after today," said Mulholland over the weekend.
Private and institutional donations are being perused as well. "You make hay when the sun's shining, right?" said Mulholland.
The entire Flight 93 Memorial is projected to cost $62 million.
