Memorial Museum to mark 10th anniversary of 9/11

September 11 marks the 10th anniversary of the day that terrorists killed more than 3,000 people at the World Trade Center in New York City; at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., just outside Washington, D.C.; and in a field near Shanksville, Pa., about 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

In New York, a new 9/11 Memorial will be dedicated on the tenth anniversary. The memorial is located at the site of the former World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, where the 110-story “Twin Towers” were destroyed and more than 2,700 lives were lost. The memorial includes reflecting pools, lined with bronze panels inscribed with the victims’ names, which mark the footprints of the Twin Towers.

The Memorial Museum incorporates remnants of the original World Trade Center construction, including column bases and a stairway known as the “Survivor Stairs,” used by hundreds of people to escape the destruction. Exhibit galleries include artifacts, narratives, oral histories and multi-media displays.

While the dedication ceremony on Sept. 11 is reserved for the families of victims, the memorial will open to the public on Sept. 12. Because construction will continue, visitors must obtain timed passes in advance, and passes for Sept. 12 are already sold out. Your travel professional can help you reserve a visitor pass and make travel and hotel arrangements for your trip.

The Pentagon Memorial, open since 2008, honors the 184 lives lost at the Pentagon’s western wall. This outdoor memorial includes 184 cantilevered, illuminated benches, each engraved with the name of a victim, shaded by paperbark maple trees. While the memorial is open daily, there will be an invitation-only ceremony on Sept. 11 for the families of the 9/11 victims. 

Yet another national memorial will be dedicated outside Shanksville during the weekend of Sept. 10-11, with all events open to the public. The memorial marks the site where 40 heroic passengers and crew crashed, thwarting the plan to attack the U.S. Capitol. The memorial includes ponds, groves of trees, the “Field of Honor” and the “Tower of Voices,” where 40 large wind chimes represent the sound of the wind and the heroes’ voices. Events on Sept. 10-11 will include a dedication ceremony, luminaria lighting and a memorial service.

To visit any of these moving 9/11 memorials, talk with your travel professional. Many more memorials are located across the U.S. and around the world, including Staten Island,N.Y., Bayonne,N.J., Coral Springs, Fla. and Phoenix, Ariz., as well as in such far-flung locations as Padua, Italy and Jerusalem, Israel.

This travel column written by BlueRibbonNews.com special contributor Robbert van Bloemendaal, an experienced world traveler, native of Australia, an Ambassador with the Rowlett Chamber of Commerce, and president of  Travel Leaders of Rowlett.

If you are interested in contributing a regular column on your topic of expertise, email editor@BlueRibbonNews.com. 

Photos in this article reprinted with permission from National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved.

For more information, visit 911memorial.org.

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