September 5, 2004 in Travel

With repairs at Pentagon, signs of attack still visible

Derrill Holly Associated Press
 

If you go

Pentagon

» Pentagon: The Pentagon is visible from Interstate 395, between exits 9 and 10, traveling south on the west side of the highway. Or take the Metrorail to Pentagon or Pentagon City; you can view the site from Army-Navy Drive or from Arlington National Cemetery.

» Arlington National Cemetery: Opens at 8 a.m. daily; closes at 7 p.m., April 1 through Sept. 30, and at 5 p.m. other times of the year. Paid parking available on site, or use the Arlington National Cemetery Metro stop. ( www.arlingtoncemetery.org, 703-607-8000)

» National Law Enforcement Memorial: Located on E Street between Fourth and Fifth streets, at the Judiciary Square stop on the Metro Red Line. The Visitor Center, at 605 E. St., NW, two blocks from the memorial, is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. ( www.nleomf.com, 202-737-3213)

» National Fallen Firefighters Memorial: Monument located outside the National Fire Academy, 16825 S. Seton Ave., Emmitsburg, Md. ( www.firehero.org, 301-447-1000)

» National Air and Space Museum’s Uvdar-Hazy Center: Located next to Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Va., 28 miles west of the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall. Open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. Admission is free but parking costs $12; roundtrip shuttle from the downtown museum is $7. ( www.nasm.si.edu/museum/udvarhazy/, 202-357-2700).

ARLINGTON, Va. – An observant traveler along Interstate 395 here might notice that the gray limestone facade of the Pentagon is tinted slightly darker in spots.

These barely visible scars are reminders of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the nation’s military nerve-center, which killed 125 in the building and 59 passengers and crew. The slabs obliterated by the attack have since been replaced with stone hewn from the same Indiana quarry where the original stone was mined. In other places, the original stone was tinted slightly darker by the smoke.

A small chapel built within the impact zone of the Pentagon serves as a place of reflection for Department of Defense staff, but is not readily accessible to the public.

However, a permanent, 2-acre memorial is planned. It would be built about 165 feet from the now-repaired face of the Pentagon’s west facade. Proponents of the project have said they would like to be able to dedicate it on Sept. 11, 2006, but it still faces a long approval process.

The wall has been repaired, and the area remains visible from afar, but it is located inside a military installation. Visitors are subject to security checks conducted by both military and uniformed Department of Defense commissioned security police.

But visitors can view the site from Army-Navy Drive, or from an old section of adjacent Arlington National Cemetery. It is most easily accessible via the Washington area’s Metrorail system; the Pentagon or Pentagon City are the closest stops. Also at the cemetery you can visit a Pentagon-shaped memorial marker honoring 66 victims of the attack.

The dozens of civil servants who lost their lives Sept. 11 are also listed among the heroes honored at the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Md.

The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s companion facility in Chantilly, Va., near Washington Dulles International Airport, has a small exhibit of artifacts devoted to Sept. 11, including photos and a fragment from the damaged area of the Pentagon.

© Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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