JOHNSTOWN – The University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown located 30 miles from the Flight 93 crash, Shanksville, Pa., dedicated The Heroes Memorial, believed to be the only memorial of its kind on any college campus in the United States.
The Heroes Memorial pays tribute to the heroes of Sept. 11, 2001, listing the names of the victims of the terrorist attacks (including passengers on American Airlines Flight 77, United Airlines Flights 175 and 93, and those who were in the World Trade Center and Pentagon).
The Heroes Memorial also honors those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country during the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. In total, The Heroes Memorial comprises 12 granite panels containing 9,208 names. Additionally, it includes the ages of those military personnel killed in the line of duty. More than 5,550 of the service men and women who were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq were between the ages of 18 and 24, representing the traditional college-age population in our country and the Pitt-Johnstown campus.
The panels surround a 3,500-pound section of I-beam procured from the World Trade Center and donated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Visitors to The Heroes Memorial are also greeted by two special granite panels that are reminders of the impact, especially on the children, of the lost lives and define the wars’ life-changing impact on our country.
Pitt-Johnstown President Jem Spectar said, “The memorial serves as a teachable monument, a solemn signpost of ultimate service to country including by many college-age citizens. It is a remembrance of the heavy burden borne by the fallen, the wounded, and their families and is a sober awakening to the obligations of citizenship, a clarion call to us all to be worthy of their sacrifice.”
