The Pentagon's 9/11 Memorial

The Pentagon is a familiar sight from our first sojourn in Washington, D.C. when we lived here from 1987 through 1996.  I recall passing the Pentagon twice a day on my way to and from work at Himmelfarb Library in George Washington University's Medical School located inside the District.  Now, the Pentagon is in my neighborhood where I may see it daily on my morning run.  The Pentagon looked peaceful as the sun rose a few days ago, but that wasn't the case ten years ago.

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, precisely at 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77, one of the four commercial airplanes hijacked by al-Qaeda  terrorists on that terrible day, crashed into the west wall of the Pentagon.  Fifty-eight passengers, four flight attendants and both pilots on board that plane died as did 125 military and civilian workers in the Pentagon. 

Today, lest we forget, there is a memorial on the Pentagon's west side to honor those who died that day. 

On September 11, 2008, when the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial was opened, Donald Rumsfeld, who was defense secretary when the Pentagon was attacked, said, "We will never forget the way this huge building shook. We will not forget our colleagues and friends who were taken from us and their families. And we will not forget what that deadly attack has meant for our nation."

This weekend we will see opening dedication ceremonies of the permanent 9/11 memorials at the World Trade Center in New York City and at the Flight 92 crash site near Shanksville, Pennslyvania, but the 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon was the first.

Designed by Keith Kasemen and Julie Beckman from a Philadelphia design firm at a cost of $22 million, the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial offers a serene place for quiet reflection to remember those whose lives were tragically cut short. 

"The idea that this place is just an invitation for your thoughts and your interpretations is what we see as persisting through time, and I think that's what sets it apart to some extent," Kaseman said in a September 11, 2008 television interview with CNN.

The memorial grounds cover approximately 2 acres on the Pentagon's west side, an area I recall was once the Pentagon's heliport.  Now, 184 bench-like structures, one for each of the victims, are scattered in rows by the victim's year of birth. 

Instead of the "whop-whop-whop" of helicopter blades thrumming through the air, basins of water now quietly gurgle underneath each bench which are all oriented in the same direction in which the plane hit the Pentagon, pointing east. 

LTG Timothy J. Maude, U.S. Army

The engraved name plates on each bench are placed symbolically, depending on whether the victim was a Flight 77 passenger or a Pentagon employee.  If the victim was on the plane, visitors read the name as they look toward the western sky. If the person was inside the Pentagon, you read the name looking at the building, facing east.  Lieutenant General Timothy J. Maude was serving inside the Pentagon as the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel on that fateful day.

Dana Falkenberg's bench

The bench dedicated to Dana Falkenberg stands alone in the first row labeled with her birth year 1998.   According to her biography posted on the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial web site, 3-year-old Dana was a curly-haired sprite who charmed everyone she met. 

Dana was aboard Flight 77 with her parents, Charles Falkenberg and Lesley Whittington and her 8-year-old sister Zoe when it crashed into the Pentagon.  


Her family was traveling from their home in University Park, Maryland to Canberra, Australia where her mother Lesley, a Georgetown University professor of Public Policy, planned to work for several months at the Australian National University.  Her father Charles was a software engineer who worked as director of research for ECOlogic, a company that managed NASA-related databases.  


Heir to her parents' genes, Dana was bright and precocious.  Who knows what contributions she might have made had she lived?

SGT Tamara C. Thurman, US Army

Twenty-five-year-old Sergeant Tamara C. Thurman was working in the Pentagon's office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel.  Growing up in Brewton, Alabama, Tamara loved basketball and music.  She served in Bosnia, Korea and Germany before her assignment at the Pentagon.  Her mother, Saundra Woolen, still finds it hard to believe that Tamara is gone.

At age 71, Retired U.S. Navy Captain John D. Yamnicky, Sr. was the oldest victim of the Pentagon crash.  Just like Dana Falkenberg's bench, his bench also stands alone, only in the earliest row of the memorial, the 1930 birth year row. 

Captain John D. Yamnicky, Sr. USN Retired

Captain Yamnicky was a naval test pilot who served in the Korean and Vietnam wars before retiring in 1979.  Upon his retirement, he became a consultant to the Test Center at Patunxent River. Maryland.  He was aboard Flight 77, enroute to China Lake, California, to work on a missile project there. 


John was a man greatly admired by his fellow soldiers and beloved by his family and friends.  His Pentagon 9/11 Memorial biography reads: "Mark Twain wrote that one should live so that when one dies, even the undertaker would be sorry. There were 1,200 people at John’s memorial service – some standing on the sidewalk.  John D. Yamnicky’s life was a gift to the Navy and the Nation. The sage who asked, “where do we get such men?” was surely thinking of John Yamnicky – one of the very best."


"The Pentagon memorial will stand as an everlasting tribute to 184 innocent souls who perished on these grounds," President George W. Bush said at the memorial's dedication service in 2008. "A memorial can never replace what those of you mourning a loved one have lost. We pray that you will find some comfort amid the peace of these grounds. We pray that you'll find strength in knowing that our nation will always grieve with you."


So, today let us grieve with the families of Dana Falkenberg, Tamara Thurman, Timothy J. Maude, John D. Yamnicky and so many more.  And let us never forget...