Editor's note: News-Item staff writer/photographer Larry Deklinski, who has spent considerable time in Shanksville since Sept. 11, 2001, filed this story from a recent interview in the community. Deklinski is also there this weekend for coverage of 10th anniversary ceremonies.
SHANKSVILLE - On Sept. 11, 2001, it started as just another day for Shanksville native Robert Page. The sense of normality ended when the windows at Shanksville Auto Company began to shake.
Page, the manager, was leading company employees through their normal routines. But work came to an abrupt halt when television stations began to broadcast images of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. It was as they watched the horrifying image of a plane crashing into the South Tower that their building, in the center of Shanksville, vibrated.
Employees evacuated to investigate. That's when Page and others saw a column of smoke cresting over a nearby hill.
"I have friends who have a saw mill, so I thought maybe a fuel tank exploded," Page said.
Page and another employee drove around the rural roads in an attempt to find the source, but could not locate it. Then, after approximately 15 minutes, they drove to a large open field two miles away from town. From 300 yards away, Page immediately knew a plane had crashed.
"There was just a big hole in the ground, and 200 to 300 yards of woods on fire," he said. "I knew it was a plane, but there were no pieces at all."
Page assumed the crash was associated with the attacks in Washington, D.C. and New York; however, there was nothing he could do to help. They left the field and proceeded to the Shanksville Fire Hall whose members had driven by on their way to the scene. At the fire hall over a emergency scanner, they heard a Shanksville Fire Chief confirm a crash and then a plea for assistance.
"Just the way they are"
Not long after the 40 passengers on Flight 93 gave their lives to save other Americans from attack, the community of Shanksville began to open their arms to those flocking into the area.
Page and his wife, Nancy, offered the use of their boat to responders attempting to locate pieces of material in Indian Lake, approximately two miles from the crash site. Page and other employees of the auto company cleaned several state police vehicles that escorted First Lady Laura Bush. Community members joined together and collected food and drink, which were transported twice a day to first-responders.
The list goes on, and continues today.
Many of those same people who helped in those initial days also became Flight 93 Ambassadors. In that role, volunteers provide information to the thousands who visit the crash site.
"I tell you what, the firefighters and people in Shanksville were amazing," Page said. "They are still giving. It's just the way we are."