Friday, Jul. 11, 2008

Flight Crew Memorial to Be Dedicated July 4

By Scott Price

Staff Writer

Since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 in which four large airliners were hijacked and crashed, a group of people — many of them local — have been raising money to build a memorial to the flight crew members who died that day.

The 9/11 Flight Crew Memorial, the first such memorial dedicated to the 33 flight crew members who lost their lives that day, will be dedicated at 10 a.m. Friday, July 4, at the corner of Northwest Highway and Texan Trail [Business 114].

"This dedication will be solemn and respectful," said P.W. McCallum, Grapevine Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director.

McCallum said family members of some of the flight crew members who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, will attend, along with airline representatives. The event will also include music and a flyover of four jets in a missing-man formation.

The memorial also honors present flight crew members.

The memorial was the idea of Valerie Thompson, an American Airlines flight attendant for 20 years who is based at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, and her husband, Dean Thompson.

Valerie said in the days following 9/11, a friend said, "We are first responders. How come somebody is not talking about us?"

"My feeling has always been those were heroes," Valerie said. "We got like-minded people to form a foundation. They are from many airlines," throughout the country.

The foundation designed a logo that incorporates the Pentagon, the World Trade Center towers, a symbol of the state of Pennsylvania where one plane crashed, and the flight numbers of the four planes.

"We put the stars on there for all the people who climbed back on the planes and did not know what was going to happen," said Dean, who is president of the foundation.

Last week a portion of a steel girder from the World Trade Center, destroyed in the 9/11 attacks, was installed on a separate concrete pad at the site, as was a stone from the Pentagon.

The design of the memorial was chosen through advertised competition, and Bryce Cameron Liston of Salt Lake City was awarded the commission.

Dean Thompson began work in 2006 transforming the artist’s design, named Valor Commitment Dedication, into a 1.5 times life-size bronze sculpture.

It includes a flight captain and female flight attendant in American Airlines uniforms, a first officer and male flight attendant in United Airlines uniforms, a child being protected by one of the flight attendants, a globe and two eagles to represent the two airlines. The memorial sits on a Texas limestone base and is 18 feet tall and 14 feet wide. It will be visible from the air, particularly for aircraft landing at the airport’s northern runways.

The total value of the sculpture, base, plaza and the land is about $1 million dollars, according to Grapevine and foundation officials. The foundation raised about $300,000, they said. Gary Hazelwood of Westwood Development Corp., which developed the site, donated the land for the memorial. The city of Grapevine has paid for part of the project, including construction and landscaping.

Shirley Hall, vice president of the foundation and an American Airlines flight attendant for 30 years, said the foundation raised money through a variety of means, including fundraising events, including memorial bricks.

"We are humbled that the majority of our donations ranged from $1 to $100," she said.

The foundation is still raising money to pay for a water feature that will be part of the memorial. For more information on the memorial, see www.GrapevineTexasUSA.com/911flightcrewmemorial, or contact the GC&VB at 817-410-3185.