SHANKSVILLE – Shortly after the Flight 93 disaster in Shanksville on Sept. 11, 2001, the Rev. A.T. Mashcerino had a dream to build a memorial to honor those who sacrificed their lives in that disaster.
At the memorial service for those 40 people Tuesday, Mascherino discussed his dream and one very important part of it: The Thunder Bell.
Mascherino likened the bell to the Liberty Bell, noting that when the Liberty Bell sounds on July 4, so too does the Thunder Bell.
The half-ton steel bell was cast in 1860 and is now the Voice of Flight 93. But that took some work.
He knew that he wanted a bell for the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel. He remembered one bell he had sounded when he was younger, now in the ownership of a friend.
Mascherino approached his friend Harold Knupp of Somerset on a couple of occasions about purchasing the bell. Knupp turned down those requests. Mascherino told his friend that he wanted to purchase the bell and name it the Thunder Bell in honor of Flight 93. Knupp then considered selling the bell.
However it was not until Mascherino later read a newspaper article on the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel that he learned that Knupp was going to donate the bell.
“I was in the parking lot of Sheetz, ready to cry,” said Mascherino, in the parking lot of a Sheetz when he read a reporter’s account of the donated bell.
“All of us have dreams,” said Knupp. “He (Mascherino) had the tenacity and intestinal fortitude to chase and find his dream.”
Mascherino’s dream was to allow anyone to sound the Voice of Flight 93.
“The Thunder Bell,” said Mascherino. “As powerful and strong as the voices of Flight 93.