Remarks by the First Lady at September 11th Memorial Service

Flight 93 National Memorial Site
Shanksville, Pennsylvania

10:28 A.M. EDT
 
MRS. OBAMA:  Thank you so much, Joanne, for that very kind introduction.  It is a privilege and an honor to be here today as we pay tribute to the men and women of Flight 93. 
 
     I want to acknowledge Secretary Salazar, Governor Rendell, and Gordon Felt, and I want to thank them all for their leadership and for their service. 
 
     I also want to thank Reverends Britton and Way, for leading us in prayer.
 
     And I want to particularly recognize and thank Mrs. Bush –- not just for her moving words today, but for being such a source of love and support for the families of Flight 93, and for all her work to help our nation heal in the days and months after the attack.  Thank you so much.  (Applause.)
 
     I come here today not just as First Lady, on behalf of my husband and a grateful nation.  I come as an American, filled with a sense of awe at the heroism of my fellow citizens.  I come as a wife, a daughter, and a sister, heartbroken at the loss so many of you have endured.  And I come as a mother, thinking about what my daughters, and what all of our sons and daughters, can learn from the 40 men and women whose memories we honor today.
 
     The men and women of Flight 93 were college students and grandparents.  They were businessmen, pilots, and flight attendants.  There was a writer, an antique dealer, a lawyer, an engineer. 
 
     They came from all different backgrounds and all walks of life, and they all took a different path to that September morning. 
 
     But in that awful moment when the facts became clear, and they were called to make an impossible choice, they all found the same resolve. 
 
     They agreed to the same bold plan. 
 
     They called the people they loved –- many of them giving comfort instead of seeking it, explaining they were taking action, and that everything would be okay