SEN. VOINOVICH STATEMENT ON ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11 ATTACKS
Will Attend Pentagon Memorial Dedication Ceremony
September 11, 2008
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator George V. Voinovich (R-OH), a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today will attend the dedication of the new September 11th Pentagon Memorial on the seventh anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
“Seven years ago today, we suffered a horrific national tragedy, the images of which will forever remain in the minds of the American people,” Sen. Voinovich said. “The senseless brutality of 9/11 shocked the world. But rather than destroying our faith in the American ideals of liberty and freedom, it united us in a way I have never seen before. The spirit of self-sacrifice that day inspired was truly remarkable. Today we remember the innocent lives lost on September 11, 2001, and honor first responders who make little-noticed sacrifices every day that keep our families safe.”
The new Pentagon Memorial contains 184 memorial units, each of which is dedicated to an individual victim by its unique placement within the collective field. The field is organized as a timeline of the victims' ages, moving from the youngest – three-year-old Dana Falkenberg – to the oldest, John D. Yamnicky, 71.
Each memorial unit is specifically positioned in order to distinguish victims on board American Airlines Flight 77 from victims within the Pentagon.
The memorial units representing the 59 lives lost on American Airlines Flight 77 are positioned so that a visitor to the park will face the sky when reading the name of the victim to whom that unit is dedicated. When standing at a memorial unit dedicated to a victim who was inside the Pentagon, the visitor sees the victim's name and the Pentagon in the same view.
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