Pentagon Memorial Fund Still Short Millions
By Sharon Anderson 09.30.04

Three years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the Pentagon, and the Pentagon is still without a memorial to honor those killed. But with a memorial concept in the works, family members of the victims have joined together to raise the needed funds.

The reconstruction of the Pentagon took one year but a memorial is the missing piece needed to bring closure to the families who lost loved ones, and for the approximately 23,000 employees, both military and civilian who work at the Pentagon.

Since the loss of his brother David, 41, a budget analyst at the Pentagon, Laychak is at the forefront of the non-profit Pentagon Memorial project. Laychak said he still takes the loss one day at a time.

"It's not something that you ever get over," Laychak said. "This memorial is … going to be a place of comfort for [the] people left behind, and it's going to be a gift for future generations. It's going to complete the Pentagon.”

The memorial fund is currently short $17.5 million for the construction and permanent maintenance of a memorial park. The park will comfort the victims’ families and survivors and also serve as a permanent site for remembrance, reflection and renewal.

The memorial will feature a tree-lined park with 184 lighted benches, with a place for permanent inscription of each pentagon victim’s name. Every memorial unit will include a cantilevered bench rising above a lighted pool of water. Lights, water, metal benches and paper bark maple trees placed throughout the park will create a tranquil atmosphere for visitors.

A field of memorial units, located on the Pentagon grounds near the point of impact, will be arranged as a timeline of the victims’ ages, in order from the youngest victim, three-year-old Dana Falkenburg, to the oldest victim, John D. Yamnicky, 71.

Keith Kaseman and Julie Beckman of Kaseman Beckman Amsterdam Studio of New York City created the conceptual design for the memorial. According to the Defense Department, the memorial concept was selected from more than 1,100 entries by a panel of design professionals, victims’ family members and prominent Americans.

The families of the 184 people killed in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon, established a nonprofit agency, the Pentagon Memorial Fund, for fundraising. Jim Laychak, president of the memorial fund, said that $3 million has already been raised.

Herb Wolk said that Navy families wanted to take an active part in raising funds. Wolk, a retired Navy civilian employee lost a son-in-law, Lt. j.g. Darin H. Pontell, 26,
a naval intelligence officer at the Pentagon. Congress and the Defense Department opted for a professional fund raising group because of the magnitude of the fund-raising effort — $17.5 million.

“It’s a huge amount of money to be raised, and it really calls for a professional effort,” Wolk said. “We are anxious to see it completed. There should be a memorial at the Pentagon to serve as a constant reminder of those lost.”