Ride with the Forty on 9/11 to Arrive at SFO

A group of special bike riders are due to arrive at SFO in a couple of hours time, completing the journey of Flight 93 that never made it here on Sept 11, 2001.

The flight that took off from Newark Liberty International Airport bound from San Francisco was hijacked by terrorists and landed up in a field in Pennsylvania killing all 33 passengers and seven crew members on board. The four hijackers also died.

But not before the bravery of those on board had resulted in a fight-back against the terrorists that saved the plane from being flown on to a planned terrorist destination in Washington of the White House or the Capitol.

Today, brothers Kenny and Dale Nacke and their cousins Patrick and David White are leading the group of bike riders on the last part of the cross country journey from New York to San Francisco on the flight path of the United Airlines Boeing 757. They left New York on September 3 but at the original scheduled departure time of the flight at 8.42 am.

Kenny, a 48-year-old police sergeant from Maryland, was one of a family of five brothers. They lost their brother Joey - Louis Joseph Nacke II. Under the name 'Ride with the Forty', five core riders have taken nine days to complete the journey and have invited anyone who wants to, to join in with them.

They are carrying with them a portion of the temporary memorial from the tiny town near Shanksville, so that people along the route who cannot travel to Pennsylvania may have an opportunity to add their own tribute.

'We know this is not going to be an easy Journey, but to us, we know that Joey and the other 39 passengers and crew will be riding right along with us,' said Kenny in their press release.

'Like many proud Americans, we have great respect and gratitude for the men and women of United Flight 93. That's why we our setting out on this tremendous Journey in the Hope of Honoring and Remembering the men and women of United Flight 93 by raising awareness and funds for The Flight 93 National Memorial.

Can you imagine what our country would look like today, if the “FORTY” had not taken action and United Flight 93 had reached its target of the U.S. Capitol or White House?'

Their goal is to honour the Heroes of United Flight 93, to raise $250,000 for the Flight 93 National Memorial, to promote awareness to young and older Americans of the heroic stand against terrorism and to offer opportunity with the temporary memorial.

Gordon Felt is president of Families of Flight 93 and brother of Edward Felt, a passenger on the plane.

'I see the memorial 50 years from now as a place where schoolchildren will still be visiting by busloads, where people can go and hear a story about 40 very unique individuals that ... were able to band together and make a group decision to fight, to not sit back and let evil dictate the end of their lives," he says, quoted in USA Today.

'It could have been any of us, and we all hope that in the same circumstances any one of us could have stood up and said, 'No, this is not the way our lives are going to end.' '

For further info: http://www.ridewiththe40.org/mission.php

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-09-10-shanksville-flight-93-memorial-911_N.htm

pics of Shanksville memorial of today and future plans taken from: http://www.honorflight93.org/memorial/