Seven years after 9/11/2001 major memorials are finally being dedicated to the passengers and crews of the planes that slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Two new 9/11 memorials were unveiled at Logan Airport, Boston, and at the Pentagon, just outside of Washington, DC. More are planned. Never forget.
Few events in American history have had such powerful repercussions. Almost everyone remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. Then, with the country glued to television sets, another plane flew into the next tower. Then reports came from Washington, DC, that the Pentagon had been attacked. Then reports filtered in about a plane crash in the fields of Pennsylvania. Finally, the twin towers of the World Trade Center pancaked down into a massive pile of steel and concrete rubble. We were a nation in shock.
Those events changed air travel and almost every other form of international travel forever. New security measures were imposed. New passport requirements were passed. The border between Canada and the United States received dramatic new focus. Airports were redesigned. Rules for visiting cruise ships were tightened. Airlines faced financial ruin. The country’s transportation network literally stopped as we caught our collective national breath.
Now after seven years, several projects to commemorate this dramatic day have come to fruition.
In Boston the new Airport 9/11 Memorial was built in the middle of Logan Airport. The memorial, a glass cube standing in a small garden, is set between terminals, roadways, garages and a hotel — a part of the fabric of the airport. However, the only real easy way to visit is from the Hilton Hotel. Plus, there is no parking other than the normal $14-for-the-first-hour airport rate.
The Massport website describes the Memorial and the memories that this structure commemorates.
The Memorial site is anchored by a large glass sculpture that encases two glass panels etched with the names of the passengers and crew of each flight. The landscape has echoes of New England themes with stone walls and trees that will turn bright yellow each autumn.
The Airport 9/11 Memorial honors the passengers and crews of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, which departed Logan Airport that morning for Los Angeles. The Memorial also commemorates the dedication to duty of the Logan Airport community in restoring the aviation system to full operation and the contributions its members made toward comforting the families of the passengers and crew who were aboard those flights.
The Pentagon 9/11 Memorial, dedicated September 11, 2008, spreads across the southwest lawn of the world’s largest office buiding. It is the first national 9/11 memorial. The website states
One hundred eighty four lives were lost in a single moment at the Pentagon — one hundred eighty four individuals forever linked through the horrific events that unfolded on September 11, 2001.
Thousands of others lost their lives and suffered injury that day while millions wept.
That day was simply incomprehensible. It jolted us into a different world, a tragic reality that just did not seem real.
The Pentagon Memorial is laid out along the same path that American Flight 77 took as it plowed into the grey stone facade of the Pentagon. Benches honor the victims of this attack, both those onboard and those working in the building. Rick Newman, writing in US News and World Report describes the quiet memorial.
Atop a bed of crushed stone, there’s a sleek bench, resembling a futuristic airplane wing, that honors Army Lt. Col. Dennis M. Johnson. Water softly bubbles into a reflecting pool beneath. Surrounding Johnson’s bench are 183 others, representing 59 passengers and crew members aboard Flight 77, and 124 others who were working in the Pentagon.
The benches are perfectly aligned with each other, yet clustered by age, the military precision disrupted by the randomness that now binds the victims together. Scattered maples, saplings now, will one day shade the park—but not so deeply that they’ll block the Pentagon’s security cameras. And unlike the imposing Pentagon itself, the memorial is so subtle that from the tangle of highways that pass nearby, it’s easy to miss.
In Pennsylvania, the Garden of Reflection in Lower Makefield, Bucks County, about an hour north of Philadelphia and west of Trenton, NJ, was dedicated on September 30, 2006. This memorial has been deemed the official state memorial to the victims of the terrorist attacks. It is a remembrance of all those killed on 9/11 and was situated here because of the concentration of victims in this area.
According to the Garden of Reflection website, “Each detail of the garden tells a story. And the time of the year, or time of the day, adds character to that story. This is what makes the Garden of Reflection such a wonderful memorial to those lost on September 11, 2001. It incorporates the life that grows around it, promising for the continuation of life for future generations who come to visit Memorial Park. The Garden is a blossom that will shine bright throughout all the seasons. Help keep the garden alive through your visits, support, and sharing it with friends and family.”
In Grapevine, Texas, a new 9/11 memorial dedicated to the flight crews that died on September 11th is planned for dedication next July 4th. It will be the lone memorial decidated to the flight crews.
The United Flight 93 crash site in Shanksville, Penn., has been turned into a national park, however, construction of the memorial isn’t planned to be completed until 2011.
In New York City, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center (left) has been mired in controversy and bickering. New designs are still in the works, however the basic concept of using the footprint of the two towers as reflecting pools has been maintained. Finally, the first piece of steel for the memorial was erected September 2nd.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
