Remembering the 9/11 victims
September 11, 2008| By David Talbot
September 11, 2001 is a day of stories. Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news that terrorists had murdered thousands of their countrymen in the Pentagon, the World Trade Center and a Pennsylvania cornfield.
The stories of all those involved in the Pentagon attack and its aftermath—the victims, the responders, their families and friends—converged at a new memorial dedicated Thursday.
The dedication was moving. President Bush, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen delivered speeches commemorating the tragedy. The audience waved small American flags during the closing song, "God Bless America."
If you visit the Pentagon Memorial, you can sit on one of the 184 benches, each dedicated to a victim, or look at the spot on the Pentagon where the plane hit. Today I saw families posing for pictures around benches, families holding services with clergymen, families making rubbings from their loved one's bench, families with flowers and balloons.
The memorial is powerful, a worthy reminder of the day that brought Americans together in tragedy and demonstrated that our motto lives on: e pluribus unum.
