Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visited the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County on Monday and called it "the final resting place of American patriots."
 
Panetta was making his first visit to the site where 40 passengers and crew members died during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. He said he came "to extend our nation's deepest gratitude to the heroes of Flight 93."
 
United Flight 93 was traveling from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when it was hijacked by four terrorists. The 9/11 Commission said the terrorists likely wanted to crash the plane into the White House or the U.S. Capitol, but the jet went down in a field near Shanksville after passengers and crew fought back.
 
Panetta said the people on the plane "responded with selflessness, determination, and tremendous courage. And at the cost of their own lives, made the fateful decision to fight back, and in so doing, they successfully prevented an attack on the United States Capitol."
 
More than 200,000 people are expected to visit the memorial site this year.