Construction begins on a permanent memorial for Pentagon attack victims

In 2006, construction began on the outdoor Pentagon Memorial, located directly southwest of the military headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The memorial was planned as a permanent site dedicated to the 184 people killed during the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon and American Airlines Flight 77. Covering approximately two acres, the project incorporated 184 individual memorial benches, with one representing each victim. The design arranged the benches along the flight path of the aircraft and according to the victims' ages, which ranged from three to seventy-one years. This organizational arrangement allowed visitors to understand aspects of the attack's human consequences through the memorial's physical layout. The construction project transformed a section of the Pentagon grounds into a dedicated historical and commemorative space.