Design Chosen for Pentagon 9/11 Memorial

Associated Press ^ | March 3, 2003 | Pauline Jelinek

[ewing]

Victims of the September 11 attack on the Pentagon will be remembered outside the massive Defense Department headquarters by a grove of trees, 184 lighted pools and benches engraved with the name of those who died.

Pentagon officials announced Monday that the memorial's design, by two New York architects, had been chosen from among more than 1,100 entries in a competition.

The two acre memorial will be 165 feet from the Pentagon, near the spot where terrorists crashed a hijacked jetliner into the building.

[ewing]

Looks good to me..

[ewing]

More.. 'benches will sit atop small lighted reflecting pools, arranged by the age of hte victims, from 3 to 71, positioned parallel to the planes flight path'

[ewing]

[Dialup Llama]

>More.. 'benches will sit atop small lighted reflecting pools, arranged by the age of hte victims, from 3 to 71, positioned parallel to the planes flight path'

?!? So this is a memorial that glorifies the successful attack itself?

[ewing]

I think it is more for the families (including freeper BKO) to have a place to sit and reflect on their loved ones.

[Ramius]

Seems like a good plan. A place of contemplation.

[goldstategop]

Trees last nearly forever. They're a wonderful memorial and they'll be around long after we're gone.

[apackof2]

Its really hard to tell from the picture but I hope its looks bettert than the new design for the WTC

[cake_crumb]

I like it. I like it FAR better than the memorial all the lefties in the NYC government have been 'agonizing' over.

Trees, pools, benches. A memorial park. THAT is appropriate.

[OldFriend]

Much like the chairs in the memorial at Oklahoma City.

[cake_crumb]

"Pentagon officials announced Monday that the memorial's design, by two New York architects, had been chosen from among more than 1,100 entries in a competition."

Ironic no??

BTW, what's with aligning everything to run parallel to the flight path of the plane used in the attack?

[ALOHA RONNIE]

NEVER FORGET...

...that it was HILLARY RODHAM that refused the Sudan's 3-Free Offers to send us OSAMA bin LADEN for an American Jail and Trial during the 1990's...

...who ended up eliminating her biggest Nemisis on Sept. 11th:

...BKO - St. Barbara K. Olson of America

[FreeTheHostages]

I think it's beautiful. I live in DC and I went to the National Building Museum and I saw all the 6 finalists. They were each incredibly lovely.

This was one of my two favorites, though.

It will be a great place, and it will follow the aspirations of the family members of the victims as set forth in a statement at the outset of the competition. To wit:

That the memorial not just be a place of grieving, but a place that reminds us that patriotism is a duty, and that the people who died died for their love of freedom. A place that celebrates and honors their patriotism and our nation's love of freedom.

[FreeTheHostages]

Re your comment on trees,

actually, the National Forest Service gave a big grant for ongoing landscaping and trees etc. So trees figured in nearly all of the finalist's proposals.

this particular photograph does not do justice to this prposal, I have to say. the lighted benches and the water will have a special and beautiful and uplifting effect. there are some wonderful simulations of the way this memorial will look at night.

[FreeTheHostages]

Exactly. And the selection process for the Pentagon was much more democratic: it was open to EVERYONE. Anyone and everyone could submit a proposal. Proposals came from all over the world, over 5000.

And from all kinds of countries. Oh, I wish you all could have seen some of the top 100 on display at the National Building Museum, along with a representative sampling of some of the entries. That sampling included some wonderful proposals from older children.

[Joy Angela]

If only Barbara Olsen had lived,

After HELL TO PAY and THE FINAL DAYS,
her next book might have been titled

THE CLINTON DOUBLECROSS
First Bill, Then Hillary

Will America let the Clinton's return to power?
Only if America FORGETS who gave us 9-11.

September 11th --- The CLINTON Legacy

[FreeTheHostages]

This is better than the photo suggests.

(Oh, BTW, apparently we had a favorable story on newsmax today. Sigh, I'd trade all those stories for double the crowd size!)

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Very nice.

A two-acre memorial for 184 Americans.

Bigger than the Viet Nam wall for 58,000 Americans.

Ah well, God Bless them all..........

[I'm ALL Right!]

Just what I was thinking...reflecting pools, chairs...OKC Memorial.

[!1776!]

Much like the chairs in the memorial at Oklahoma City.

Powerful, the simplicity is powerful.

Having been to the OKC memorial, not having lost a loved one there, I can honestly it was moving in its simplicity.

You walked among the chairs, tall, then came across a short one, and knew what it meant. I couldn't help but look at the name, I didn't know them, but couldn't help reading them and imagining the person behind it that never came home to tell mom or dad about their day, or hug their kid and play on the floor like I have with mine a thousand times, which I hopefully have not taken for granted.

I have stood at the Wall and been subtly immersed in the names of those who died fighting for our nation. It is a simple memorial on the surface.

I have looked at the eyes of soldiers walking in the memorial to Veterans of the Korean War. It is, once again a simple memorial on the surface.

I guess what I am trying to say is whow I see the value of a memorial is in the experience, and that is individual. I was born at the end of the Vietnam War, I don't personally know the heartache included, but I learned at least something from my personal experience of the memorial, looking up those I never knew. I learned something staring into the eyes of the statues in the Korean War memorial. I couldn't stand hanging around the OKC memorial and split for the hotel room just to call my wife and hear my child giggle over the phone.

Maybe it is because I'm not an architech that I don't criticise the planned memorials, but I am comfortable saying that I will reserve judgement until I have had the opportunity to experience it.