(The following story by Nick Miroff and Debbi Wilgoren appeared on the Washington Post website on September 11.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Seven years from the day a hijacked jetliner exploded into the western side of the nation’s military headquarters, the Pentagon Memorial is being dedicated this morning in a ceremony featuring children’s voices and speeches by dignitaries, including President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.
A crowd of 20,000 invited guests, many in military uniform, gathered under overcast skies and heavy security to mark the completion of the country’s first major Sept. 11 remembrance site.
A sea of American flags decorated large installations of temporary bleacher seating and stages that were set up in the parking lot between the building and Interstate 395. . Nearby, the steel benches that are the focal point of the memorial park were draped in somber blue covers, each decorated with yet another small flag. The benches will be unveiled to the public during the ceremony, which will last until about 10:30 a.m.
The dedication opened with music by a military orchestra and patriotic songs performed by the Singing Sunrays from J.W. Alvey Elementary school of Haymarket, Va. As the youngsters, wearing light blue polo shirts, sang of heroes and courage, huge video monitors showed a montage of photos of the devastation wrought by the attack, and of rescue crews searching for victims and remains.
Those pictures were juxtaposed against images of drawings and letters children sent to the Pentagon in the wake of the attack. The montage was narrated by the voices of children, reading letters of mourning and encouragement written by young people in the weeks following the deadly day.
The sun’s rays pierced a mostly cloudy sky, distinctly different from the bright, clear morning in 2001 when America’s perception of its vulnerability changed forever. From the bleachers, uniformed snipers could be seen atop the roof of the Pentagon, adding to the sense of overwhelming security at the event.
Relatives of the victims, who spearheaded the effort to design and build the remembrance park, said dedicating it on the anniversary of the devastation brought a glimmer of hope and to a date that has become one of the saddest on the collective calendar.
“This is something to be uplifted about, a place people can find peace and healing,” said James Laychak, president of the Pentagon Memorial Fund. His brother was killed in the Pentagon attack. “We’ve turned a corner on 9/11, and we can say, ‘look what happens when we focus on a common goal and can do something good.’ ”
Keith Caseman, one of the memorial’s designers, said his role in creating the remembrance is “super-humbling.”
“It marks the beginning of a new chapter for people, however small,” he said.
The general public will not be allowed into the two-acre park until 7 p.m., when the Navy Band and a Navy choral group are scheduled to perform a musical tribute on a stage adjacent to the site.
The day’s events will cause disruptions along several major streets and highway exits in the area, many of which were closed to traffic well before sunrise. Motorists are encouraged to avoid surface streets in the vicinity of the building.
Following the ceremony and throughout the day, the memorial will be open to Pentagon employees and those attending the dedication ceremony. Invited guests include members of Congress, thousands of military personnel, and the families of the 184 victims killed aboard American Airlines Flight 77 or inside the five-sided building.
In New York, four moments of silence are planned for this morning to commemorate the precise times that two hijacked jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center, along with the times that each of the two towers collapsed. Official remembrances began yesterday in Manhattan, with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, family members of victims and others signing and writing messages on a steel beam to be used in the construction of a memorial and museum in Battery Park.
Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama were to pay silent respects at Ground Zero, where students will join relatives of the 2,700 victims to read the names of those who were killed.
McCain will also attend a service at a field in Shanksville, Pa., where 40 people aboard a fourth hijacked plane were killed when a group of passengers fought their captors and forced the plane to crash before reaching its intended target.
From the moment the Pentagon Memorial opens to the public this evening, it will remain open to visitors 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with no entrance fee and no security checkpoints. Visitors are strongly encouraged to take Metro, exiting at the Pentagon Station, where signs direct visitors to the memorial. The only parking available will be in the public garages in Pentagon City, a 5- to 10-minute walk away from the memorial.
The site’s signature feature is its parallel rows of arcing, cantilevered, stainless steel benches, known as “light” benches. There are 184 in total, each a memorial unto itself, engraved with the name of one of the victims killed at the Pentagon seven years ago today.
The 14-foot long, 1,100-pound, wing-like objects are aligned along the deadly path that Flight 77 followed. They point in one of two directions, indicating whether the person whose name is on each bench was killed in the building or on the plane.
A narrow, basin of circulating water runs below each bench, casting changing patterns of sunlight onto the objects’ polished undersides during the day. At night, underwater bulbs light up the steel from below, illuminating the entire memorial site. Paper bark maple trees, now saplings, will grow to provide shade for visitors. A tall metal fence separates the site from the Pentagon.
Thomas Heidenberger, whose wife Michelle was the senior flight attendant on board the plane, said he drew comfort in the days leading up to the anniversary from visiting the bench bearing his wife’s name.
“I sit there and remember the good times,” he said. “I had 30 years with Michelle. Others were just starting their lives, and they didn’t get that experience.”