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September 11 Memorials By Joyce Furstenau

Construction of the Reflecting Absence Memorial, March 2009

September 11, 2001 remains one of the darkest days in the history of America. On that day, Al-Qaeda terrorists crashed two airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. later that morning. A fourth jet was headed towards another target in Washington, D.C. The plane was forced down by passengers near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. There were no survivors on any of these flights. All together 2,974 victims and 19 hijackers died in these attacks.

In the days following the attacks, memorials were held around the world. Since then, permanent memorials have been erected all over the country to honor those who lost their lives in this tragedy. The damage to the Pentagon was cleared and repaired within a year. The was built on that site.

One of the first memorials erected was the Tribute in Light. Eighty-eight were installed next to the site of the World Trade Center towers. The searchlights projected two columns of light into the sky in memory of those who lost their lives in the Twin Towers. The light tribute continued each year on September 11 until 2008.

The Memorial Competition was held in 2003. Its goal was to design an appropriate memorial for the Trade Center site. Reflecting Absence was selected as the winning design in August 2006. The memorial is made up of a two massive memorial pools inside a field of trees. The pools will be set inside the footprints of the Twin Towers. Each pool will be nearly one acre in size. The pools will include the largest manmade waterfalls in the country cascading down their sides. The names of the nearly 3,000 individuals who were killed in the in , Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon, and also in the February 1993 World Trade Center bombing will be inscribed around the edges of the Memorial pools.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is presently being erected at the World Trade Center site. Officials from this museum have been traveling around the country since 2007 with steel beams. Tens of thousands of people in twenty-seven states have signed their names and shared their thoughts about 9/11 on the beams. The memorial is expected to open on September 11, 2011.

At Shanksville, Pennsylvania a permanent Flight 93 National Memorial is planned to include a grove of trees forming a circle around the crash site. Wind chimes will bear the names of each of the victims.

The Sphere that once stood between the World Trade Center towers today has been placed in Battery Park on Battery Place in Lower Manhattan. The large metallic sculpture was recovered from the World Trade Center site. It was damaged but still intact. On March 11, 2002, was rededicated in Battery Park as a memorial to the victims of 9/11. Name Date

September 11 Memorials Questions

1. What was the Tribute in Light?

2. What was the title of the winning design for the World Trade Center Site Memorial competition?

3. What landscape feature will be placed in the footprints of the Twin Towers?

4. How many names will be inscribed around the edges of the memorial pools? A. nearly 3000 B. nearly 5000 C. nearly 4500 D. nearly 1500 5. Where will the Flight 93 memorial be located? A. in New York B. in Virginia C. in Washington D.C. D. in Pennsylvania 6. When is the National September 11 Memorial & Museum expected to open? A. September 11, 2021 B. September 11, 2010 C. September 11, 2011 D. September 11, 2013 Name Date

Some controversy has surrounded the building of the National September 11 Memorial. One objection was that those under the age of 18 were excluded from entering the competition. How do you feel about this restriction?