Speech: Remarks of Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar Eighth Annual Commemoration in Honor of the Heroic Passengers of Flight 93

Site of Flight 93 Memorial, Shanksvilles, Pennsylvania

On behalf of President Barack Obama and a grateful nation, today we say to the families of our Flight 93 heroes, “We will never forget.”

The heroes of Fight 93, who here gave their lives, will forever inspire us by their example of their triumph of good over evil.

These fields, where the heroes of Flight 93 perished, are hallowed ground for a grateful nation. We honor the courage and sacrifice of the passengers and crew who gave their lives that day.

The events of September 11, 2001, revealed the extraordinary bravery of ordinary men and women. Their acts of courage, sacrifice, and heroism will never be forgotten.

We also honor and thank the community of Shanksville who were also victims on September 11, 2001 and who have sacrificed so much since then. Three hundred sixty-five days a year, volunteers from the community stand guard at this temporary memorial. The Families of Flight 93 and the people of Shanksville are now family.

This temporary memorial, these ceremonies on this makeshift pad, will be forever etched in our hearts, minds and memories.

The Flight 93 Memorial will soon stand in eternal tribute to the heroes of Flight 93.

The Department of the Interior and our National Park Service will ensure with the families and all our partners – that we will build this shrine for the heroes of Flight 93. But our words and actions here will ring hallow unless we rededicate ourselves everyday to the inherent goodness of human kind and to the proposition that good ultimately triumphs over evil. The heroes of Flight 93 will live forever as shining examples of the human quest.