Multimedia presentation by Alyssa Cwanger and Curt Chandler
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Journalists cover a wide variety of subjects, but the big story is easy to spot. It's the event that's so big, people recalling it years later remember where they were and what they were doing when it happened.

Alyssa Cwanger was in class at the University of Pennsylvania two when jetliners slammed into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Shocked students were sent home from class. A third plane struck the Pentagon, and then a fourth plane, United Flight 93, crashed into a Somerset County field as its passengers fought with terrorists.

Ms. Cwanger, an aspiring photojournalist, was drawn to Ground Zero in New York. Within days of the crash she was photographing crews that were searching for victims and dismantling the remains of the World Trade Center's twin towers. She returned a month later to document a memorial service for families mourning the loss of loved ones.

Every Sept. 11 she returned to photograph families at Ground Zero, until this fall, when the Post-Gazette assigned her to cover ceremonies near Shanksville, at the site where Flight 93 crashed.

In this presentation, Ms. Cwanger shares images made over the past five years while covering her big story.

Related content

Photo Journal: Remembering Flight 93, 9/11/2006

Special Report: Forty lives, one destiny on Flight 93, Oct. 28, 2001

Photo Journal: More pictures by Alyssa Cwanger

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