Remembering those lost on 9/11 | Scene Through the Lens
A weekly visual exploration of the Philadelphia region
September 12, 2022: Jim Glatz, a retired Cherry Hill Police Department captain, joins others placing 2,977 flags to honor the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks along the intersection of Springdale and Kresson Roads in Cherry Hill.Read moreTOM GRALISH / TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Anniversary stories have been a staple in newspapers for probably as long as there have been newspapers. During last year’s 20th anniversary observances of 9/11, I took the pictures for the Inquirer’s look back. I also created an image gallery on the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pa., as well as researching, writing and photographing a visual essay on where some of the hundreds of artifacts of the World Trade Center were placed in our area as memorials. They are sacred places and the people i met there were special.
The walkway at the visitor center follows the exact flight path United Flight 93 took, with embedded markers memorializing American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175, and American Airlines Flight 77. The walkway continues toward the overlook, then resumes alongside the Wall of Names, where the Flight 93 marker is located.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
The walkway to the Flight 93 National Memorial visitor center follows the exact flight path United Flight 93 took.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Words etched in glass at the observation deck: "A common field one day. A field of honor forever" comes from a quote by Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Stephen Ruda.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Visitors stand at an observations deck, looking toward Memorial Plaza.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Memorial Plaza at the crash site is the final resting place of the passengers and crew members and includes the Wall of Names, which features 40 white polished marble stones inscribed with the names of the passengers and crew. The walkway, which begins at the visitor center (rear), follows the exact flight path United Flight 93 took before crashing.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Zita Bernabei and Jim Holiday visit the Wall of Names. The siblings are third-generation family farmers in Indiana, Pa. Bernabei lived in nearby Shanksville in the 1980s and tries to visit the site every year.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
A native 17.5 ton sandstone boulder is visible through the Ceremonial Gate that separates the Wall of Names from the grove of hemlock trees (rear) where Flight 93 crashed. The boulder was placed in 2011 to indicate the edge of the impact site which is closed to the public. The gate, constructed of hewn hemlock beams with forty angles cut into it representing the crew and passengers is their final resting place. It is only opened on September 11 for family members to visit the crash site together during the annual remembrance ceremony.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Small tribute items are left by visitors in a niche on the Memorial Plaza near the Wall of Names.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Interpretive signs at Memorial Plaza. The photograph on the panel was taken by Val McClatchey, just moments after the crash of Flight 93, from her home at nearby Indian Lake.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Ranger Gregory Zaborowski gives the daily talk at the Memorial Plaza, discussing how Flight 93 fits into the greater context of Sept. 11. The rangers talk about aspects of the hijackers' plan, personal stories of passengers and crew, as well as the obstacles the passengers and crew overcame to thwart Flight 93 from hitting the intended target.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
The Tower of Voices forms the gateway to the Flight 93 National Memorial. It was conceived as a 93-foot musical instrument holding 40 wind chimes representing the 40 passengers and crew members.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Visitors at The Tower of Voices. The intent is "to create a set of 40 tones (voices) that can connote through consonance the serenity and nobility of the site while also through dissonance recalling the event that consecrated the site."Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
The concrete tower supports aluminum wind chimes varying in length from 5 to 10 feet that produce the different tonalities or voices and is visible from U.S. Route 30.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Visitors at the Flight 93 National Memorial are reflected in the glass of the visitor center.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
The permanent exhibit at the visitor center at the Flight 93 National Memorial.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
A New Jersey Drivers license, a vial of soil from the crash site, and a company ID card are in the permanent exhibit. Many personal effects of the passengers and crew were recovered in the debris field, and after being examined by the FBI, were returned to their families, who consented to their being displayed at the exhibit.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
The permanent exhibit includes a wall of faces of the passengers and crew of Flight 93.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
The book store/gift shop at the visitor center at the Flight 93 National Memorial. All items offered have an educational merit, with a portion of the proceeds supporting National Park Service interpretation, education, and visitor service programs.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
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The 21st anniversary this past weekend did not generate the same attention from the news media, or even the community.
So while running errands before my shift at the newspaper started, I was surprised to pass an intersection filled with hundreds of small American flags. It took me a moment to realize the symbolism or significance. Of course I pulled over.
I found a small group of men carrying just a few flags. and was able to make a few pictures as they planted the very last handful of 2,977 flags around the Jewish Community Center in Cherry Hill.
Ron Brand with the South Jersey Men's Club joins others in placing flags near the Holocaust Memorial at the JCC.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
NJ State Trooper Mariano Kieling (left) and retired Cherry Hill Police Capt. Jim Glatz join others in planting the flags. Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Mike Perloff (from left), Michael Zorfass and Ron Brand place flags.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Nelson Mellitz (left) and Mike Perloff give the flags along the intersection of Springdale and Kresson Roads a final look on Thursday.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
Beder makes his way along Kresson Road past the 2,977 flags along Kresson Road.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
I had not seen any notices of the effort to mark the anniversary, so I was feeling fortunate I’d stumbled across the volunteers. But at the same time I wished I had driven by a few hours earlier, when they were starting on their project.
Rather than dwell on the pictures I missed by not being there earlier, I concentrated on making the most visually interesting images of the thousands of flags. I explored them from all angles using different lenses, noted how they were affected by the light, and the different ways of looking at something that is so familiar a symbol.
It became an adventure and I ended up enjoying the place I was in as much as I did meeting and photographing the people.
Since 1998, a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:
September 5, 2022: An eight-foot-tall roadside attraction is one of many outside outlets of the chicken-serving, Baltimore-based convenience store/gas station chain Royal Farms. It has been expanding into our region in recent years. This one is on the Black Horse Pike in Bellmawr. Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
August 29, 2022: Merchants close up their tent as a light rain begins to fall at a street fair in Collingswood.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
August 22. 2022: The remnants of a celebration remain in a University City parking garage after the participants have departed.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
August 15, 2022: And in the category, Most Creative Do-it-Yourself Side View Mirror Replacement, the award goes to… (seen along Pine Street in Society Hill)Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
August 8, 2022: The setting sun reflects off the glass of Cira Centre South, behind the trees of the rooftop urban park Cira Green.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
August 1, 2022: Workers change out a large billboard on the facade of Market Street East’s Fashion District Philadelphia.
Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
July 25, 2022: Friends Ari Laver (left), 9, and Sam Palley, 6, don't let a water ice break stop them from trading baseball cards at John's Water Ice. They were there with Ari's little sister, Nadia, 6, and their mothers, Julie Palley and Lauren Laver.
Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
July 18, 2022: Music lovers attending one of the summer's free concerts listen from the hill overlooking Rose Tree Park's outdoor amphitheater, a popular Delco tradition for more than four decades.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
July 11, 2022: A shade awning in Spruce Street Harbor Park hoovers near the USS Olympia on Penn’s Landing. The cruiser saw service from 1895 until 1922, and is the sole floating survivor of the U.S. Navy's Spanish–American War fleet. Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
July 4, 2022: Surrounded by reflections in the glass, a pair of red and white-striped, blue-starred boxing shorts is displayed on a Rocky mannequin in the window of the Independence Visitor Center gift shop. Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
June 27, 2022: Shafts of early-summer sunlight shine in the evening at the A.W. Christy Rec Center in West Philadelphia as youngsters play in the Eugene Broadwater 3-on-3 basketball tournament. The tourney is named for a beloved recreation leader there who died in 2019.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
June 20:2022: A new angle on mowing the lawn: Hillside grass cutting along Cropwell Road in Cherry Hill.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
June 13, 2020: And in the category, Most Creative Use of Duct Tape / Automotive, the award goes to… (seen along 13th Street in South Philadelphia) Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
June 6, 2022: Eighth graders on their class trip from Hillwood Middle School in Fort Worth, Texas, climb on top of the "OY/YO" sculpture by artist Deborah Kass outside the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History on Independence Mall. At right is the 1876 sculpture "Religious Liberty," by Moses Jacob Ezekiel. The OY/YO sculpture was just installed May 1. Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
May 30, 2022: Nighttime beachgoers take flash photos on the big chair and surfboards, in the dark, just off the Boardwalk in Wildwood. Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
