From the Los Angeles Times:
Today, President Bush will lead the ceremony dedicating the first national memorial to the victims of that tragic day when four planes were hijacked and nearly 3,000 people were killed. The memorials at the site of the
The two-acre memorial at the Pentagon -- with 184 steel-and-granite benches, each engraved with a victim's name -- is about 200 feet from the crash site, oriented along the plane's flight path.
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Unlike Pentagon tours, which can only be booked by groups through reservations made at least two weeks in advance, the memorial will be open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week, starting at 7 tonight.
More info on the memorial itself, its designers, and photos of the concept at the link above. While the memorial is impressive indeed in its first and early days, I can’t help but wish I could visit it 30 years on… once those maple saplings become towering protectors over the individual monuments. It will truly be amazing then.
I highly recommend you go read Steeljaw Scribe’s retrospective on the 9/11 Pentagon attack. He was there. He lost friends and comrades-in-arms that day. And his narrative is compelling, written as it is in the unique and incomparable first-person perspective. You’ll not find better.
The Pentagon memorial is merely the first of the three planned major memorials. We should keep ALL the victims of
And never, ever forget.
The Pentagon memorial is simply breathtaking. All the thought that went into planning it, to give grieving family, friends and strangers a contemplative place for reflection and to honor the dead. Perfect.
ReplyDeleteIf only they could do that in NYC, where politics and grazing rights trump honor and respect.
Remember them I do; Remember them we must.
My own tribute is here.
"Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana
ReplyDeleteOften repeated, yet worth repeating again and again.
What an absolutely stunning and appropriate memorial.
ReplyDeleteI watched the video on the linked website, and I cried and cried.
I just watched the memorial service at the Pentagon (uninterupted by the chattering news people on cable) on C-SPAN and it was a wonderful ceremony with speeches by President Bush, Sec. Rumsfeld, Sec. Gates, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mullen. The memorial itself is unusual, very simple and quite elegant. Perfect. I have some friends in Kansas who lost their son, Ronald Hemenway, who was stationed at the Pentagon that day; they are in my thoughts today.
ReplyDeleteKris, Jim, Christina and Sharon: I share your thoughts, and thanks for sharing yours.
ReplyDeleteAnd Sharon... I, too, watched the dedication ceremony this morning and was struck by the brevity and eloquence of Rumsfeld, Gates, Mullen, and President Bush. Their speeches were simply spot on and appropriate, nothing more need be said. A beautiful and moving ceremony.
Breath taking. That's all I can think of to say. Simply breath taking.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Becky.
ReplyDelete