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Panetta honors Flight 93 on eve of anniversary

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta paid tribute to the heroes of Flight 93 on Monday during his first visit to the crash site, where he also made the case for America's continued war on terror.

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta paid tribute to the heroes of Flight 93 on Monday during his first visit to the crash site, where he also made the case for America's continued war on terror.

Panetta said Monday he was personally grateful for the courage of the 40 passengers and crew aboard the doomed Boeing 757 that day because he was among the thousands of people in the U.S. Capitol - the target of the Flight 93 hijackers.

Panetta, accompanied by National Park Service rangers and family members of those who died here, spent nearly an hour taking a solemn tour of the memorial, walking along the black granite wall that divides the protected "hallowed" ground - the filled-in crater where the plane hit the earth - and pausing at the marble-paneled Wall of Names that recognizes each of those on board, before laying a wreath in their memory.

Later, Panetta held a brief news conference at the memorial where on Tuesday Vice President Biden will give the keynote address and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar also will speak during the official anniversary ceremony.

Panetta paid tribute to the passengers and crew who fought back against the hijackers when they learned the other hijacked planes that day had struck the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

"At the cost of their own lives, they made the fateful decision to fight and prevented an attack on the U.S. Capitol," Panetta said.

He urged Americans not to forget the U.S. servicemen and -women who over the last decade risked their lives - and those who had lost their lives - to protect the nation, fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"They fought to ensure such an attack would never happen again," Panetta said.

He said that despite "decimating" the most violent terrorist organization by killing Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda operatives, the United States must remain vigilant to new threats as it roots out terror cells in Yemen, Somalia, and North Africa.

"Al-Qaeda still remains a threat, although we have dealt a serious blow to their network," Panetta said. "We will fight them wherever they go."

Minutes earlier, Chris Tucker, 20, of Burlington, Ky., was looking out over the field of wildflowers that marks the final resting place of the Flight 93 passengers and crew and contemplating his future role in the war on terror.

Tucker, whose cousin was among the New York City firefighters digging through the wreckage of the World Trade Center in the weeks after 9/11, remembers the powerful impact of that day as an elementary-school student, and said it led to his decision to join the Air Force this year.

"I couldn't believe somebody would do that to our people," Tucker said. "Now it's my time to fight for freedom."

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