My visit to the Pentagon Memorial on 9/11

We visited the Pentagon Memorial yesterday, the 9th anniversary of the attacks. We weren't allowed inside the memorial when we first arrived as it was closed due to a suspicious package. We left, had a nice dinner at Legal Seafood, then headed back to the Pentagon. By the time we returned, the memorial had reopened but the streets were now blocked for a 9/11 memorial run. Thanks to our GPS, we managed to weave our way through the streets and found the memorial parking lot. I'm glad we didn't give up.


The locator stone at the entrance lists the victims names and birth year.

Once you locate the victim on the locator stone, you can then go to the age line within the memorial to locate the bench for that victim.

The memorial is surrounded by ornamental grasses that we could hear blowing in the breeze. That sound, along with the sound of the water beneath the benches, is what you hear while you walk through the memorial.

President Obama visited the memorial earlier in the day and laid this wreath at the memorial gateway. The date and time of the attack is etched in the limestone: September 11, 2001 9:37 A.M.



Each victim has an individual bench. The plaque in the water at the base of the bench lists the names of their family members who were also victims, linking them together.


Each bench is positioned to distinguish who was in the Pentagon and who was on the plane, American Airlines Flight 77. Benches honoring victims of the Pentagon see the name and the Pentagon in the same view. Benches honorinng victims from the plane see the name and the direction of the plane's approach in the same view.




The memorial is located on the side of the Pentagon where the attack occurred. You can see the difference in the stone on the building in this photo. You also see the Age Wall on the bottom left corner of this photo. The wall starts at 3 inches, the age of the youngest victim, and grows to 71 inches, the age of the oldest victim.