Newark Airport donating gate sign to Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania

CBS News

2 days ago

The sign that marked the gate number for United Flight 93 at Newark Airport is getting a permanent home in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the plane crashed.
This comes less than a month before we mark 24 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Just before the North Tower was struck at 8:42 a.m., United Flight 93 out of Newark Airport's Gate A17 took off for San Francisco.
About 45 minutes in, it was hijacked, believed to have been pivoted towards the White House. A group of passengers, having already known about the World Trade Center attacks, quickly plotted to regain control of the cockpit, which ultimately led it to crash into a field in Pennsylvania, killing all 40 passengers and crew members on board.
"Common citizens right underneath this gate who thought they were gonna go about their ordinary day transformed into extraordinary heroes," said Adam Shaffer, the National Park Service's chief of interpretation, education and visitor experience.
"What those numbers and letters reflect to us is such a powerful impact to what the human soul and condition for survival and preventing death and destruction of others," said Chief Thomas Wieczerzak with Newark Airport Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting.
Port Authority lost 84 of its employees on 9/11, more than 30 of which were members of its police department.
In 2002, Newark International Airport was renamed Newark Liberty International Airport in honor of those who died.
The Gate A17 sign has been kept at the Port Authority administrative building since the construction of Newark Airport's new Terminal A.
Port Authority is now donating the sign to the Flight 93 National Memorial.
"Some of our employees are a little bit choked up this morning about the sign leaving. Its meaning is gonna stay with us forever," said Jon Gooda, United Airlines' vice president of Newark Airport operations.
The sign will educate future generations of Flight 93 National Memorial visitors.
"We need to remember every bit of it, every person's story from that day. And this is what's doing that," Wieczerzak said.
The National Parks Service is still determining where and when exactly the sign will be displayed at the memorial.