'Unity, courage and defiance': Flight 93 passengers and crew honored 24 years after 9/11

Benjamin Kail, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sep 11, 2025

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STONYCREEK, Pa. — Edward Felt was always a problem solver.

The 41-year-old software engineer needed to get to San Francisco for an unexpected work trip, and he couldn't get a flight on his usual Continental Airlines. So he booked last minute with United Airlines — Flight 93.

"I knew my brother was traveling that day," Gordon Felt told the Post-Gazette Thursday morning, 24 years after Flight 93 crashed in this Somerset County field after passengers fought back against the terrorist hijackers. "But these things happen to other people — that's what you think."

Standing near the solemn white marble memorial engraved with the names of 40 passengers and crew who died along with almost 3,000 others in New York City and Washington, D.C. on Sept. 11, 2001, Gordon Felt was among the many family members and government leaders gathering from across the country and around the globe Thursday to honor those who were lost.

Felt, a longtime spokesman for Flight 93 families, grew emotional as he shared that Edward, his older brother, had become the patriarch of his family back when their father had died.

Edward was brilliant with numbers and computers, but never made people feel like they weren't as smart as him, said Felt, a central New York native. Edward's morning routine often included reading the newspaper over breakfast with his eldest daughter, said Felt. He added that Edward's two now-adult daughters are just as smart as their dad was.

"He was a tough sibling to follow in school — his science and math teachers couldn't keep up with him," he said. "He was fascinated by everything. He loved to take things apart ... fix things and make them work. But he would give you the shirt off his back. And he was always asking what you were doing — he was a great mentor. That's who he was."

Thousands of students from 238 schools around the world viewed Thursday's memorial service online as part of a 9/11 educational effort, according to Stephen Clark, superintendent of National Parks for Western Pennsylvania.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins was in attendance, along with local and state officials and dignitaries from Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. After the morning ceremonies, Gov. Josh Shapiro spoke with family members and took part in a wreath-laying event in the afternoon.

"Here brave men and women made history," Clark said. "Their decision to fight back ... saved an untold number of lives, and saved the U.S. Capitol."

Most of those on Flight 93 were strangers to one another, Clark said.

But in a critical moment in U.S. and world history, the group showed "unity, courage and defiance" in the face of tremendous adversity.

Clark also honored the 441 first responders who died that day. The Somerset Regional Volunteer Fire Department, one of the first to respond to the Flight 93 crash, led a solemn wreath-laying ceremony with families at the site of the crash.

Later, a few dozen United Airlines workers laid wreaths and flowers along the memorial wall.

A hush fell over the crowd of seated family members and standing visitors, supporters and Armed Services members, many of them choked up as the names of the passengers and crew were read, with two bells clanging and echoing over the field after every name.

Several family members read their loved ones' names, remembering "my brother," "my sister," "my cousin," "my son."

"The (memorial) wall continues to bring people together as family," said retired Rev. Robert Way of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Cooperative in Shanksville.

The reverend invoked philosopher John Stuart Mill, who said "inaction" can lead to evil. He called on listeners and viewers to follow the example of the passengers and crew who took action on 9/11.

While the wall's names are divided by lines representing each victim's individuality, "the wall as a whole represents the unity of their decision," Mr. Way said.

Lawmakers from throughout Pennsylvania also shared

Kenny Nackie, whose brother Louis "Joey" Nacke II died at 42 on Flight 93, told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette his family is unified by shared memories of his brother — a bond they've sealed with tattoos of the Superman emblem.

Nackie stood beside Shapiro and other family members during several moments of silence. Later, the governor and Nackie chatted as they walked toward the crash site for the second wreath-laying.

Joey, who lived in New Hope, was a longtime collector of comic books and a director of warehousing for KB Toys. But his love for comic books and toys wasn't the only reason for the tattoos or the Superman action figure laid among flowers under his name on the memorial wall.

Nackie said Joey as a 5-year-old donned a blue blanket for a cape and leapt through a plate glass window and screen door. He wound up getting stuck and then slicing his arm almost to the bone, leading to more than 100 stitches and a large scar.

"He survived that incident," Mr. Nackie said. "Later in life he decided to get (a tattoo of) the Superman emblem above the scar, just to remind us that we all have that inner child. He was a big kid at heart. He's with us every day."