Pentagon Memorial - from 9/11 attack

One evening when we got back to our Metro Station by our hotel, we walked around the Pentagon and saw the Memorial there. When we were at the Pentagon with our family in 1992, we were able to park in the parking lot and take a tour of the facility. Now they have guards walking with machine guns (like the rest of the world, sad to say) and you can't park anywhere close! You are only allowed to take photos once you are on the Memorial grounds (cameras everywhere).  Once you walk past this sign, the place felt very sacred. You didn't want to speak louder than a whisper. It was beautifully designed.

 Curtis at Pentagon Memorial entrance.

 This is the Pentagon you see from the Memorial. Notice the shade of color difference. Where it is darker is the original building wall. Where it is lighter inthe middle 1/3 of the side, that is where the plane went in and they rebuilt it in the same manner and pattern, but the blocks are not weathered. That was really amazing to me to see how huge the hole was. No wonder it killed so many inside the building as well as those on the plane.

 This is what the memorial looked like. Each bench represented a person. They were layed out in rows. Each bench was placed in a row corresponding to a year from 1932 to 1999 (I think).  So in the row 1999 there were only 1 or 2 benches...children on the plane who were only 2 yrs old. Once you got to 1977 to 1954 there were a lot of benches. There were fewer as 1932. You can see a paper chain and flowers on the one bench. Someone had left messages to them from friends. On each loop of the chain was a personal memory message. Was very touching!

 This is how each bench looked. Had running water under neath it. You can actually sit on the bench and meditate. The running water represents - living waters, life never ends.

 At the end of each bench was engraved the person's name. Below in the water on the metal was again the name and year of that person's birth. Each bench was labeled.

Down the side of the Memorial was each year listed. Then out to the right of these "year signs" were all the benches representing people who were killed but born on that year.  Who ever designed all of this did a fabulous job. It was truly a special place to "feel".