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Pentagon 9/11 Memorial

The Pentagon 9/11 Memorial

Siobhan D.

The Cantilevered benches that face the site of the Pentagon building attack.

Background 

The Pentagon 9/11 Memorial commemorates the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, at 9:37 am on the US military headquarters. It memorialises the lives lost aboard the hijacked plane, those inside the Pentagon, and the impact it had on their families. On the morning of September 11, 2001, four different planes were hijacked with three different targets of significance to the American people. The first two planes hit both towers of the World Trade Center, the next plane hit the west side of the Pentagon building, and the third was grounded on its way to the Capitol. Each targeting an economic, military, and political symbol of the United States. Flight 77, which hit the Pentagon, took the lives of 59 people on board the plane and 125 people inside the building. While many people think of 9/11 as the attack on the World Trade Centre, few people immediately associate 9/11 with all three attacks. And fewer know that a memorial to the victims is open to the public at the Pentagon building and in Arlington National Cemetary.

The entrance to the memorial.

Design

Similar to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Reflecting Pool, the Pentagon 9/11 memorial was designed to be sleek and elegant, imposing a pensive aura on the attendees. No detail has been left out, not the varying ages of the victims, the direction of attack, or the memorial’s location. The memorial opened on September 11, 2008, following a dedication ceremony attended by 20,000 people where President George W. Bush recognised the “everlasting tribute to the 184 souls who perished”. It was designed by Julie Beckman and Keith Kaseman of Kaseman Beckman Advanced Strategies architectural firm, selected out of 1,100 other applicants. Their memorial was designed to sit on two acres of land just outside the area where the plane struck the building. Each of the 184 victims has a memorial unit comprising of a cantilevered bench engraved with their name hovering above a reflecting pool of water lit from below. The benches for the plane passengers are positioned so the visitor will face the sky along the path the plane travelled. Whereas the benches for the victims inside the Pentagon are positioned, so the visitor reading their names is facing the Pentagon building.

The benches face opposite directions to represent the victims inside the building and those on the plane, respectively.

Each individual victim has a bench, but if there are victims from the same family, their family name is listed in the reflecting pool below the bench.

Benches are inscribed with each individual victim’s name, and if there are victims from the same family, their family name is displayed in the reflecting pool.

Aside from the front of the memorial, which runs parallel to the Pentagon building, the memorial is encircled by the “Age Wall”. This curved wall increases in height to demonstrate the ages of the youngest victim at 3 inches for 3-year-old Dana Falkenberg to the oldest at 71 inches for 71-year-old John Yamnicky. Finally, there are 85 paperbark maple trees scattered throughout the memorial, which will eventually grow to provide shade over the whole area.

There are 85 paperback maple trees scattered throughout the memorial to provide shade.

Arlington National Cemetary 

In addition to the main memorial just off the south side of the Pentagon building, there is also a memorial inside Arlington National Cemetary. The marker itself is modelled after the Pentagon building as it’s five-sided, and the burial site is located closest to the Pentagon on the southeast part of Arlington National Cemetary. Although the marker memorialises all the victims, it was specifically dedicated to the five families who did not receive any identifiable remains of their recovered loved ones. And a portion of the remains of 25 other victims is buried there as well.

The granite five-sided marker is located in Arlington National Cemetery, closest to the Pentagon building. Dedicated to the five families for whom no identifiable remains of their loved ones were found.

Memorial’s Effect and Significance 

The Pentagon 9/11 memorial includes aspects from other famous DC memorials while adding an interactive aspect, with benches and pools of water enticing the attendee to sit and ponder the sacrifice of the victims and their families. The position of the benches forces the visitor to physically locate themselves as the victims would have been, see a visual representation of their ages, and experience the rows and rows of benches. The totality of which creates a sombre and pensive mood around the whole memorial. The memorial itself heavily displays the impact the attack had on the families of victims and how much 9/11 permeated the US media and culture. The generation which could answer the question of “where were you on 9/11?” is no longer predominant in US society, so these memorials serve as active reminders to those who weren’t born during the attacks of the tragedies that took place. They serve as pieces of history memorialising the sacrifice and marking the shift in US policy. They signify the spark which leads to the Global War on Terror, the War in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the continuing fight to prevent another such assault on US soil.

Video

I had planned to make a video starting at the entrance of the memorial, walking around the Age Wall, and then showing the benches and reflecting pools more closely. Unfortunately, there was another visitor who was visibly grieving a loss, and it felt too inappropriate to film. So instead, I’ve included the Memorial Audio tour, which actually displays the layout better than I could have and is from the Memorial fund itself.

Works Cited

“About the Memorial.” 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, https://pentagonmemorial.org/about-the-memorial/.

“The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial.” U.S. Department of Defense, https://www.defense.gov/Multimedia/Experience/Pentagon-Memorial/.

“Pentagon 9/11 Memorial Honors Victims in Symbols, Concrete.” CNN, 11 Sept. 2008, https://web.archive.org/web/20110716005522/http://articles.cnn.com/2008-09-11/us/pentagon.memorial_1_memorial-honors-victims-dana-falkenberg-keith-kaseman?_s=PM%3AUS.

“Pentagon Group Burial Marker.” Arlington National Cemetery, https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/Monuments-and-Memorials/Pentagon-9-11.

“Visiting the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial.” Washington DC, https://washington.org/DC-guide-to/pentagon-memorial.

Further Reading

“The 9/11 Timeline.” 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, https://pentagonmemorial.org/9-11-timeline/.

“Creating a Place like No Other.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 11 Sept. 2008, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/10/AR2008091000018.html?sid=ST2008091100581.

“A Long-Awaited Opening, Bringing Closure to Many.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 12 Sept. 2008, https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR2008091100579.html?hpid=topnews.

“National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial Renovations Complete.” U.S. Department of Defense, https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/2764636/national-911-pentagon-memorial-renovations-complete/.

“Visitor Resources.” 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, https://pentagonmemorial.org/visitor-resources/.