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40 chimes for 40 heroes at the Flight 93 memorial

More than 200 people gathered Sunday at the United Airlines Flight 93 Memorial to dedicate what is believed to be the world's largest musical instrument.

A rendering showing the inside of the Tower of Voices, a 93-foot tower outfitted with 40 wind chimes, each emitting a different tone, one for each victim in the United 93 crash in Shanksville, Pa.
A rendering showing the inside of the Tower of Voices, a 93-foot tower outfitted with 40 wind chimes, each emitting a different tone, one for each victim in the United 93 crash in Shanksville, Pa.Read moreBIOLINIA AND PAUL MURDOCH ARCHITECTS

STONYCREEK, Pa. — More than 200 friends and family members of the crew and passengers who died while fighting four terrorists on United Airlines Flight 93 gathered Sunday at the Flight 93 National Memorial on a rainy day to dedicate what is believed to be the largest musical instrument in the world — the Tower of Voices.

Standing 93 feet tall, the imposing concrete tower will eventually hold 40 wind-activated chimes with unique ring tones to represent the individual voices of the 40 passengers and crew members lost on Sept. 11, 2001. The tower is built on a mound, surrounded by white pine trees at the entrance to the 2,200-acre national park.

"Isn't it wonderful there will be an everlasting concert of our heroes under the skies," said Tom Ridge, the first U.S. secretary of homeland security and former governor of Pennsylvania.

"There was a plane," he said. "It began to veer off course to our nation's capital. But it didn't reach its target because 40 individuals fought against evil. Lives were saved and heroes were made over the skies of Shanksville. They had big dreams for their time here on this earth and we had big dreams for them as well. But if you listen close, you can hear their voices in the wildflowers and the hemlock trees."

>> READ MORE: Architect's Philly roots inspired Tower of Voices memorial for United Flight 93's heroes

The chimes are designed to produce a subtle sound that can be heard by people who walk up to the structure.

For Pat Waugh, 75, of Climax, N.C., the dedication service was another opportunity to visit the place where she feels the strongest connection to her daughter, Sandy Bradshaw, who was a flight attendant on Flight 93 when it crashed into the field in Somerset County where the memorial is built.

"It's important to come here and remember all those 40 people on that plane who fought to save our nation's Capitol building," said Waugh who drove 7 1/2 hours through rain to be there. "I feel close to my daughter when I come here. I am drawn here. I feel the need to come here."

The completion of the Tower of Voices marks the final phase of construction at the memorial park. The design and construction cost nearly $6 million and is being funded by a grant from the National Park Foundation. More than 112,000 donors — individuals, foundations and companies — contributed more than $46 million to the National Park Foundation for the Flight 93 National Memorial. Other projects at the park include construction of the Visitor Center Complex, Memorial Plaza, Wall of Names, 40 Memorial Groves and the reforestation of the park's landscape.

Paul Murdoch, architect of Flight 93 National Memorial, said the tower is basically a 93-foot-tall musical instrument.

"We wanted to do something in sound as part of the memorial because the last memory of many of the passengers and crew members was through their voices on the phone calls they made from the plane," said Murdoch whose company, Paul Murdoch Architects, is based in Los Angeles. "We also wanted to be using the natural forces of this site to create sounds that would change all the time. The chimes are tuned to certain notes, but the sounds will change as the wind activates them."

Murdoch, 61, has deep Philadelphia roots. He is an alum of Marple Newtown High School in Newtown Square and he worked for several architecture firms in Philadelphia before getting his master's degree at UCLA.

Stephen Clark, superintendent of the Flight 93 Memorial, said it took 275 tons of concrete to build the Tower of Voices.

"When you learn that 13 individuals made a total of 37 phone calls from the plane and it was through those phone calls they were able to learn what had happened in New York and at the Pentagon and then it was at that point it galvanized them to realize they were not going back to an airport. This was a suicide mission," he said. "That's when they took a vote to do something about it. Think about that." They exercised one of the greatest privileges of voting.

"They voted as a group to do something and they devised a plan to take back the airplane," Mr. Clark said. "This tower represents their voices and their spirit and their strength working as one."

Carol Wheland, 72, of Jackson, N.J., attended the dedication service with several family members in honor of her cousin, Richard Guadagno, who was flying from New Jersey, where he had celebrated his grandmother's 100th birthday, back to California where he worked as a fish and wildlife officer.

"We've been here several times," she said. "This is the culmination of everything the family wanted to accomplish with this national park."

Christopher Wheland, 45, of Washington, D.C., said, as a wildlife officer, Richard Guadagno would have appreciated the pastoral setting of beautiful trees and wildflowers for a memorial to his life.

"I feel like this is a place where Richard would want to be. If he were alive, he would come here and recognize the beauty of it. So, it's a great place for his final resting place."

Tim Grant: grant@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1591