This past weekend Campanastan had a chance to visit the Pentagon Memorial with my sister Ellen Weaver and brother-in-law Mike Weaver.
It's not the kind of visit where you say, "We had a good time," especially when your younger sister was one of those murdered.
It was indeed cold, but as you can see the sky was a beautiful azure. Few people were there.
Here is the "sea of benches", one for each of the 184 victims. The benches are parallel, aligned with the path of American Airlines flight 77.
You'll note that not all benches are pointing in the same direction. Those commemorating victims murdered in the Pentagon point toward the building (to the right in this picture) and the benches remembering those murdered on the plane point towards the open area ("sky") opposite the Pentagon. So when you read the names of those murdered on AA #77, you face the sky; when you read the names of those murdered in the Pentagon, you face the building.
Despite the somber occasion we did have a serendipitous encounter with Annette McKenzie Anderson, her friend Charles Acree, and his mother Carrie.
Annette (aka "DoctorDiva1") is a PhD musician/vocalist and Charles is a program management/IT consultant. He lost a colleague in the Pentagon, and only the grace of God prevented him from attending the same meeting on that late summer morning.
Here is my sister Ann's bench showing her name engraved into the end of the bench.
Mike, Ellen, and I are shown below, and I'm sitting on Ann's bench.
Ann's name carved into the slab at the entrance to the memorial.
Ann's colleague Joe Ferguson's bench.
The memorial is reputed to be spectacular at night. A light illuminates the flowing water in the rectangular pool beneath each bench and the cumulative effect is unforgettable.
Just like the event that the memorial depicts.
My eternal thanks to all those who persevered in bringing this remarkable monument to fruition. And my prayers to those murdered and their loved ones. You will forever be in my thoughts.
But forgive me, Annie - I forgot the Diet Coke, Marlboro Lights, and Dewar's. Next time.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -- Edmund Burke
Comments