STONYCREEK, Pa. — Before United Flight 93 crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, several passengers and crew members, forced by hijackers into the back of the plane, phoned family and friends. In some cases, they called to let others know of their situation; in other cases, they just wanted to say “I love you” one last time.

The voices of those victims are the last memories of them.

Todd Beamer famously exclaimed “Let’s roll!” before dropping the phone and charging the cockpit with fellow passengers and crew members. Linda Gronlund kept calm in a message to her sister: “I’ll miss you,” she said and quickly ended the call.

Mr. Beamer’s, Ms. Gronlund’s and the other 38 voices that fell silent when Flight 93 crashed into a field in Somerset County, will be memorialized in September, when the latest, and last, installment at the Flight 93 National Memorial is set to be completed.

The memorial is a 93-foot tower holding 40 aluminum wind chimes in honor of the 40 victims on Flight 93, which will be known as “Tower of Voices.” The tower, built of precast concrete, has already been erected, and the chimes are set to be installed before the dedication ceremony on Sept. 9. 

“The intent of [the Tower] is really to create a memorial in sound,” said Paul Murdoch, chief architect of the monument. “Each chime has its own inner voice.”

Ranging from five feet to 10 feet in length, each chime will be tuned to a different note, symbolic of each victim’s unique voice.

Mr. Murdoch, who has designed every monument at the Flight 93 Memorial, said he also wanted to capture the unity exemplified by the passengers and crew as they banded together to force the plane down 20 minutes before it could have hit the U.S. Capitol, the hijackers’ presumed target. Mr. Murdoch said he could have divided the chimes into subgroups but instead decided to install each one individually, hoping “the whole group would read as an ensemble of 40.”

The Tower of Voices is located near the entrance of the park, about two and a half miles from the crash site, and is meant to set the tone for the Memorial.

“We look at the tower as the welcoming beacon, as a beacon of hope,” said Stephen Clark, superintendent of Flight 93 National Memorial.

“I really feel it’s that sense of inspiration to reflect on what those 40 individuals did aboard that airplane… about the sense of hope to make a difference,” Mr. Clark said.

The monument will stand above an elliptical plaza, surrounded by evergreen trees.

With eight columns, each holding five chimes, the tower is shaped like a C. Its opening faces north, away from the crash site, channeling the chimes’ music into the fields and hills beyond.

The sound will add a new level of expression to the Memorial, Mr. Murdoch said. “Some visitors really might respond to the sound of the chimes; others might respond more to touching the names [at the crash site],” he said.

After President George W. Bush created the Flight 93 National Memorial in September 2002, the National Park Service hosted an international competition to select an architect for the site. Mr. Murdoch beat out more than 1,000 entries. The Tower of Voices was part of his initial vision.

Other monuments at the Memorial include the Wall of Names, a slab of white marble leading along the flight path to the crash site, and the visitor center, which overlooks the crash site. The former was completed in 2011, the latter in 2015.

Unlike these features, the Tower of Voices stands exposed, high above the surrounding fields.

“We wanted something heroic…a counterpoint to the [very horizontal] landscape,” Mr. Murdoch said.

Still, Mr. Murdoch said keeping the monument in touch with the natural environment was key.

For example, he elected to use wind rather than mechanized chimes. And he said he employed a motif from the hemlock grove behind the crash site: The beams that hold the columns of the tower together are angled to reflect the bent shape of hemlock roots. A symbol of resilience, the grove withstood the plane’s burning wreckage.

To Mr. Murdoch’s knowledge the Tower of Voices is the largest musical instrument wind chime in the world.

The project cost about $6 million, all of which came from private donations, according to Mr. Clark.

Dave Kenney, of Waynesburg, Ohio, who was visiting the Memorial for the first time Tuesday, said he was impressed by the prospect of the Tower.

“It’s amazing what they’ve done,” he said.

Cousins Teresa Ritchea, of Shadyside, Ohio, and Dicksie Blankenship, of Clinton, Ill., were also visiting the Memorial for the first time Tuesday.

Ms. Ritchea said she could not bring herself to listen to the recordings of the victims’ phone messages in the visitor center. The wind chimes, though, will be different.

“It’s going to be awesome,” she said.

Max Graham: mgraham@post-gazette.com or Twitter @maxmugrah

First Published: July 11, 2018, 1:21 a.m.