Memories of Sept. 11 echo at rebuilt Pentagon
WASHINGTON - September 11, 2011
At a ceremony attended by an estimated 1,600 people, including
1,200 relatives of the victims, Vice President Joe Biden joined
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in paying solemn tribute to the
families of the fallen.
They also highlighted the contributions of the U.S. military
since Sept. 11, 2001.
"A generation of Americans stepped forward to serve in uniform,
determined to confront our enemies and respond to them swiftly and
justly," Panetta said.
After a moment of silence at 9:37 am EDT - the exact time the
Pentagon was hit by the jetliner - the Navy Sea Chanters Chorus
sang "Amazing Grace."
Mullen offered his condolences to the families, who sat in rows
of metal chairs facing the outdoor Pentagon 9/11 Memorial near
where the plane struck.
"No music can assuage, no tongue can express, no prayer alone
may dampen the yearning that must fire yet inside you," he said.
"Lives ended in this place. Dreams were shattered. Futures were
instantly altered. Hopes were tragically dashed."
Biden offered an uplifting message of resilience.
"It's a basic American instinct to respond to crises when help
is needed to confront the afflicted," Biden said. "An American
instinct summoned by the collective strength of the American people
that we come to the fore in our darkest hours; an instinct that
echoes through the ages from Pearl Harbor to Beirut; from Mogadishu
to Ground Zero; from Flight 93 to right here in the Pentagon."
President Barack Obama planned to lay a wreath at the Pentagon
memorial later Sunday.
Many details of what transpired that bright, sunny morning in
2001 have been forgotten, or set aside, in the whirl of events in
the intervening years.
The Boeing 757, with a wingspan of 124 1/2 feet, slammed into
the west face of the Pentagon at ground level, traveling at 530
mph. The instant the nose of the plane made contact a fireball
burst upward and rose 200 feet above the roof, according to the
Pentagon's official history of the attack. The front of the
fuselage disintegrated, but the midsection and rear-end continued
inward, cutting a 270-foot path of destruction.
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Robert Burns can be reached on Twitter (at)robertburnsAP