Walking towards the slightly discolored portion of the Pentagon, it was impossible to miss the crowd of people gazing steadily at what appeared to be a large stone slab. As the slab came into focus, the engraved words became not only legible, but heart-wrenching:
“We claim this ground in remembrance of the events of September 11, 2001.
To honor the 184 people whose lives were lost, their families, and all who sacrifice that we may live in freedom.
We will never forget.”
Congress authorized the memorial in Dec. 2001 to honor the lives of those who were killed both in the Pentagon as well as on the plane that crashed into the building. The memorial was dedicated on Sept. 11, 2008, seven years to the day after the initial attack. President Bush spoke at the unveiling to a crowd of nearly 15,000 people.
The memorial’s unique design was hard to decipher at first. The year of the victims’ birth is engraved on the barrier around the memorial, and extends across the site to the opposite side of the barrier. Each victim has a memorial unit, which is placed on the line of their corresponding birth year. The units protrude from the ground either towards or away from the Pentagon, and all have water pools moving underneath.
The guards, who also seemed to harbor a vast knowledge of the attack and memorial, explained the concept. “When you read a name on each unit facing the building, you look up and see the Pentagon, which shows that they were killed inside,” said Officer Jones. “When you read a name on the unit facing away from the Pentagon, you look up and see the sky, which symbolizes that they were on the plane.”
The dates engraved on the barriers range from 1930 – the year of Ret. Capt. John D. Yamnicky’s birth – to 1998 – the birth year of Dana Falkenberg. The three year olds memorial unit is unique from that of the other victims’. Engraved on a plaque below her memorial are the names of three other people: Zoe Falkenberg, Charles Falkenberg, and Leslie Whittington. Zoe marks the second youngest victim next to her sister. She was born in 1992.
Turning to leave, an unfolding scene caught my attention. A mother and her three young children carried bouquet of chrysanthemums to one of the units. As the mother looked on, the three children hugged the memorial and laid down the bouquet of flowers, then wordlessly left the site, the mother crying while two of the children grabbed her hands.
This is the purpose of the memorial. To allow compassion and love to aid what may otherwise remain as sorrow, to create a sanctuary for the lives of the victims of that fateful morning. And above all, to show the message as clear as it is engraved on the stone: we will never forget.
