President Bush on Thursday dedicated the Pentagon Memorial honoring the 184 people who were killed in the terrorist attack on the building on Sept. 11, 2001.
“On one of the darkest days in American history, we saw [some of] the greatest acts in American history,” he said, referring to the heroic efforts from first-responders in the aftermath. “Future generations will … learn that freedom prevailed. We can be optimistic about the future. That day of peace will come.”
Jim Laychak, president of the Pentagon Memorial Fund, was one of many — including Bush, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld — to address the 20,000-strong crowd, which was peppered with waving American flags.
Oddly, shortly before 10 a.m., the previously steady breeze died down and the clouds above the Pentagon parted, leaving the only swath of blue in the sky almost directly above the Pentagon.
“We want people to remember what happened here — what happened to our loved ones,” Laychak said.
The Pentagon Memorial, built at a cost of $22 million, contains 184 benches that will glow with light in the night, as well as trees and trickling water. Each bench is dedicated to an individual victim, and the structures are organized as a timeline of the victims’ ages, moving from the youngest, 3-year-old Dana Falkenberg, to the oldest, John D. Yamnicky, 71.
Rebecca Lester Lightbourn, 64, of Capitol Heights, lost her daughter Samantha Lightbourn-Allen, 36, who was a budget analyst for the Army.
Lightbourn has written a book, “A 9/11 Mother’s Journey of Grief,” about the search for her daughter in the aftermath of the attack. She had previously visited the memorial Sunday and Monday, and that were photographed pictures of her daughter placed on her bench Sunday.
“I think it was beautiful [ceremony],” she said. “They had several pictures of my daughter, but I like the one they used.”
She was referring to the tribute to those killed, during which a slide show of the 184 fallen were displayed on a screen, with a bell rung as each person was honored.
Jean Hunt, who worked for Army Lt. Gen. Timothy J. Maude, chief of staff for personnel, managed to escape the Pentagon with only minor injuries thanks to the help of two naval officers. She said the ceremony was a wonderful tribute, but the remembrance was “almost long overdue.”
“I think it might take a while, because the focus is so much more on New York City,” she said.
Geravia Steele, of the District, who lost her brother, Maj. Clifford L. Patterson Jr., said that though it’s a “slow healing process,” she hoped the memorial and the dedication would bring more attention to the Pentagon attack.
“It gave other people a way to feel the touch outside of your own family members,” she said.
