Wreath Laying at National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial

It was a somber day Wednesday in Washington DC.  Along with Executive Director B.J. Lawrence, Director of Operations Bob Jackson, and Comms & PA Director Rob Couture, I made the trek to the Pentagon for what was supposed to have been a closed ceremony honoring the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

Unfortunately, in what has become all too frequent in our society, COVID fears canceled the actual ceremony.  Nonetheless, we were still able to place our Veterans of Foreign Wars wreath and pay our respects to the fallen.  We were given a window of time to be at the Memorial without any other veteran service organizations around and we owe that to the great relationship our Washington DC staff has with members of the Pentagon staffs.  Still limited on what we could do and where we could walk, but within those confines we were given a very nice tour.

A member of the Honor Guard was assigned to us for the duration.  He did not have a name badge or rank, so I can't give him proper respect for his military bearing and dedication to his duty.  Nonetheless, a true professional.  He was so proud to be in the Army and confided when we spoke privately that he just became an American citizen this year, hailing from the country of Guyana.  This man is a true patriot!

As we walked among some of the benches, individually named for each of the casualties, my guide explained that each bench was sitting at a 43 degree angle, which was the angle of attack the airplane took.  The direction of the benches coincided with the flight path also.  As you enter the memorial, the first bench you see is that of a young woman.  She was the youngest person to die that fateful day and as you move further into the memorial the benches are arranged by the age of the person.  Seeing the large carved numbers for each year of birth as they descended into the distance was truly a sobering moment.  One moment full of life and the next, a name on a bench.  Take nothing for granted my dear readers.

We were unable to visit the bench named after William R. Ruth, of Mt. Airy, Maryland because of the restrictions.  An Army Chief Warrant Officer, Bill had just been sworn in as his VFW Post Commander the day before, on 10 September.  Likewise, we were unable to visit another VFW member's bench, Jamie Fallon of the Dale City VFW Post 1503 in Dale City, Virginia.  Two members of the VFW family died at the Pentagon these twenty years ago.  To learn more about their lives, please read the article about them in the September 2021 issue of the VFW Magazine.  You can also read the article in the Magazine's digital edition here:  http://digitaledition.qwinc.com/publication/?m=3914&i=715473&p=14&ver=html5

I am presenting the keynote 9/11 address at Bill's Mt Airy VFW Post 10076 this Saturday, twenty years to the day these shameless attackers took his and nearly 3,000 others' lives.  Afterward, we will re-dedicate and rename the Post in his honor, a fitting tribute.  

A solemn tribute and salute to our two fallen comrades

Learning the finer details of the attack and the aftermath from this outstanding Honor Guard soldier

[Photo credits to Rob Couture, VFW]