One day after the nation marked 25 years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, families and supporters of the Pentagon Memorial gathered in Arlington to take another step toward ensuring future generations understand what happened there.
A ceremonial groundbreaking was held Saturday for the planned 9/11 Pentagon Memorial Visitor Education Center, a long-discussed facility that would provide historical context for the memorial and tell the story of the 184 people killed at the Pentagon and aboard American Airlines Flight 77.
For Jim Laychak, president of the Pentagon Memorial Fund, the project is personal. His brother was killed in the attack.
“It is something that is long overdue, and I’m thrilled about the opportunities to provide more programming for students and others in the community to learn about the events of 9/11 and how our country responded,” Laychak said.
The Pentagon remains the only one of the three sites attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, without a dedicated museum or visitor education center.
Laychak said organizers realized that the memorial by itself could not provide visitors with the full story of what happened there.
“We knew that it was going to be absolutely necessary to create a place for visitors to understand in greater detail what happened here,” he said.
The planned center will include exhibits and education about the attack, those who were killed and the response that followed.
Saturday’s groundbreaking represents a milestone, but significant work — and fundraising — remains before the center becomes a reality.
The project is expected to cost about $100 million and organizers have raised only a portion of that total.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner helped secure $12 million in federal funding toward construction and said efforts to find additional money will continue.
“We will fight for those dollars,” Warner said.
For Warner, building the center is also about making sure the Pentagon attack remains part of the broader story of Sept. 11.
“There was a tragedy in New York, but there was also a tragedy here at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania,” Warner said. “And all of the victims, not just in New York, need to be remembered.”
“We’ve got to make sure this story is told in a way that people fully understand and appreciate,” he added.
The groundbreaking also came just days after the National Park Service designated the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial as an affiliated area of the National Park System. The designation does not change ownership or day-to-day management of the memorial, but creates a formal partnership intended to strengthen preservation and public education efforts.
If fundraising and construction remain on track, organizers hope the visitor education center can open in 2029.
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