About 150 family members and other high-profile guests — including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld — will gather Thursday outside the wall of the Pentagon destroyed in the Sept. 11 attack to break ground on the long-awaited memorial for the site.
“It is absolutely a huge step toward completion of the memorial,” said Jim Laychak, whose brother David died in the attack. “This is a big moment.”
The invitation-only ceremony, scheduled for 1:30 p.m., is a major milestone for the Pentagon Memorial Fund, which has struggled to raise the $22 million needed for construction costs of the nearly 2-acre memorial. Organizers also hope to raise an additional $10 million to establish a maintenance fund for the site.
As of Tuesday, Laychak said the fund had raised nearly $11 million, mainly from corporate and private donations. He said construction of the memorial is scheduled in phases so projects can be paid for as money flows in. The memorial is expected to be completed by the fall 2008.
Laychak said the grounds will be cleared of utilities and new soil will be installed. The memorial will include 184 cantilevered benches — one in memory of each victim of the terrorist attack on the Pentagon — hovering over a reflecting pool.
