Flight 93 National Memorial, Shanksville PA ~ March 16, 2022

Due to a flight delay, the passengers on this plane learned what was happening elsewhere and decided to fight back. They forced the plane to crash and all aboard were killed. It was the 4th passenger jet to be taken over by terrorists and the only one to not reach its intended target. 

Flight Path

RIP brave souls 💔

Oklahoma City National Memorial, 620 N. Harvey Avenue

Thirty years ago, on April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked his rental truck in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. He then left the truck, which held a powerful and deadly bomb, went to his car, and detonated the two fuses. At 9:02 am the bomb went off killing 168 people, including 19 children in the building day care center. Where the building once stood, now stand 168 chairs in nine rows representing the nine floors of the building. Each chair has a name of the person who died.

There are parts of walls from the original building still there (Survivor Wall).

View of the Survivor Tree, an Elm that survived the blast.

The Rescuer Orchard.

In between the orchard and the chairs lie the Gates of Time and the Reflecting Pool. One Gate says 9:01 and the other 9:03, reflecting the time just before and just after the bomb.

Timothy McVeigh was executed on June 11, 2001.

Terry Nichols, who helped McVeigh build the bomb, is serving consecutive life sentences in prison with no possible parole.

Michael Fortier knew of the bomb plot and said nothing. He testified at trial against McVeigh and Nichols and received a 12 year prison sentence. He served around 10 years and was released in 2006. Fortier and his family are living under witness protection.

This is a beautiful and moving memorial to those who senselessly lost their lives. RIP

Detroit Eight Mile Wall/Birwood Wall, 20194 Mendota St (Alfonso Wells Memorial Playground), Detroit MI

This now iconic wall was built in 1941 to physically separate black and white neighborhoods. The FHA was unwilling to provide loans in the Eight Mile area and a developer wanted to build a new development. So he offered to have the wall built to keep his new, white neighborhood apart from the pre-existing black neighborhood. It worked for him and housing loans were provided for the whites.

(Black & white photos from the internet; all others from our 2021 visit.)

In 1948, the Supreme Court outlawed redlining and deed restrictions and by the 1960s, both sides of the wall were predominantly black communities. Rather than demolish the wall, residents decided to keep it standing as a reminder of our country's racist history. In 2006, the wall was turned into the mural you see today. 

It stands one foot thick, six feet high, and 1/2 mile long.

It's a moving memorial to a dark past.