Memorials and Services For The September 11 Attacks - Physical Memorials

Physical Memorials

The FDNY memorial wall is a 56-foot-long (17 m) bronze wall of cast bas-relief bronze which honors the 343 firefighters who gave their lives in service to the public during the attacks. Commissioned by FDNY and unveiled in 2006 as a memorial to the fallen firefighters, it lists all of the fallen firefighters names, and is installed in the west wall of Engine Company 10 – Ladder Company 10 on Greenwich Street between Albany Street and Liberty Street, just across from Ground Zero.

On October 4, Reverend Brian Jordan, a Franciscan priest, blessed the World Trade Center cross, two broken beams at the crash site which had formed a cross, and then had been welded together by iron-workers.

On October 13, the North Charleston Coliseum raised a special banner featuring the retired number of Mark Bavis, who was on United Airlines Flight 175. Bavis had played for the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays, and his retired number hangs in a special corner, independently from the Stingrays' retired numbers (#14, #24) and awards banners (1997 and 2001 Kelly Cup Championships), with the years he played for the team (1994–96), the date of his death (September 11, 2001), and an American flag.

On March 11, 2002, the damaged Sphere sculpture formerly in the World Trade Center was dedicated by the city as a temporary memorial in Battery Park City.

The Tribute in Light project consists of 88 searchlights placed next to the site of the World Trade Center created two vertical columns of light. The tribute began in 2001, and is now made every year on September 11.

Also in New York City, a commuter bus that was heavily damaged in the collapse of the World Trade Center was repainted with a special American flag scheme on its sides and rear (as shown to the right).

On September 11, 2002, representatives from over 90 countries came to Battery Park City as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg lit an eternal flame to mark the first anniversary of the attacks. Leading the dignitaries were Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, Bloomberg, and Secretary of State Colin Powell. The same day, the Victims of Terrorist Attack on the Pentagon Memorial was dedicated at Arlington National Cemetery near the Pentagon. The memorial is dedicated to the five individuals at the Pentagon whose remains were never found, and the partial remains of another 25 victims are buried beneath the memorial. The names of the 184 victims of the Pentagon attack are inscribed on the memorial's side.

Colts Neck, New Jersey, which lost five members of their community, commissioned sculptor Jim Gary, a lifetime resident, to create a memorial garden featuring his central sculpture of brass, copper, and stained glass—where each victim is represented by a colorful butterfly among plants in a water garden. The contemplative garden was dedicated at the municipal center of Colts Neck on November 10, 2002.

On September 9th, 2003, officials from Los Angeles International Airport unveiled a memorial entitled "Recovering Equilibrium" by the art and design team of BJ Krivanek and Joel Breaux, honoring those who perished in the September 11th attacks, at LAX's landmark Theme Building. Three of the four hijacked planes were originally bound for Los Angeles.

On September 11, 2006 at 9:15am, Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli dedicated his sculpture, "To the Struggle Against World Terrorism" (also commonly known as "Tear of Grief", a 10-story high tribute erected on the Jersey City waterfront across the Hudson River from where the World Trade Center towers fell. The sculpture is an official gift of the Russian government to commemorate the victims of the attacks. That evening, the Empire State Building went dark for 11 minutes at 9:11 p.m. in remembrance.

The Pentagon Memorial was opened on September 11, 2008, the seventh anniversary of the attacks. It is a 1.93-acre (7,800 m2) park, with 184 benches, in memory of the 184 victims at The Pentagon and on American Airlines Flight 77, arranged according to the victims' ages, ranging from 3 to 71. Construction on the Pentagon Memorial began on June 15, 2006. An additional memorial inside the Pentagon, along with a chapel, was constructed at the site of the attack when the building was rebuilt in 2002.

On September 11, 2009, the Defense Intelligence Agency dedicated a permanent memorial to the seven DIA officers who died on 9/11 while working at the Pentagon. The memorial is part of the Defense Intelligence Analysis Center on Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, DC, the largest of DIA's facilities.

Near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, a permanent Flight 93 National Memorial is in its first phase of construction, and the next phases will include a sculpted grove of trees forming a circle around the crash site, bisected by the plane's path, while wind chimes will bear the names of the victims. A temporary memorial is located 500 yards (457 m) from the Flight 93 crash site near Shanksville.

New York City firefighters donated a memorial to the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department. It is a cross made of steel from the World Trade Center and mounted atop a platform shaped like the Pentagon. It was installed outside the firehouse on August 25, 2008.

The US Navy named three ships, New York, Arlington and Somerset, in commemoration of the places the planes used in the attack came down: New York State, Arlington, Virginia, and Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

The Texas State Cemetery has a memorial to the September 11 victims. It is composed to symbolize the damaged Twin Towers, made with two twisted iron girders that had been part of the WTC and salvaged from the Ground Zero wreckage.

The city of Coral Springs, Florida has its own memorial dedicated to the victims of the attacks. It is located outside the Northwest Regional Library, the city's only public library.

The Garden of Reflection 9-11 Memorial is located in Memorial Park in Lower Makefield Township, Pennsylvania. Designed by Yardley architect Liuba Lashchyk, it is intended to symbolize light that follows darkness.

The New Britain Museum of American Art commissioned painter Graydon Parrish to create the allegorical painting "The Cycle of Terror and Tragedy" in memory of New Britain native Scott O'Brien, who was killed in the attacks.

The LeRoy W. Homer Jr. Foundation, established in memory of United 93 First Officer LeRoy Homer by his widow Melodie Homer. The Foundation awards up to three scholarships annually from applicants ages 16 – 23 residing within the United States as citizens or resident aliens. The scholarship program is funded through private donations, corporate contributions and grant requests. The Foundation also promotes awareness of aviation as a career choice, with a focus on providing information to women and minorities who are underrepresented in the US pilot population.

On November 12, 2009, a monument was dedicated in Israel, in Jerusalem's Arazim Park. Designed by Israeli artist Eliezer Weishoff, the 30-foot high bronze sculpture is composed of a waving American flag transformed into a memorial flame, which rests upon a base of gray granite, part of which is from the original Twin Towers. The sculpture is surrounded by a circular, crater-like plaza and reflection area tiled in stone. As of November 2009, it is the only monument outside of New York which lists the names of all of the victims. U.S. Ambassador to Israel James Cunningham and U.S. Congressman Erik Paulsen led a U.S. delegation attending the ceremony dedicating the monument. They were joined by Israeli Cabinet ministers, Knesset members, families of the victims.

On September 11, 2006, "The Rising" was dedicated in Westchester County, NY in memory of the residents of that county killed during the 9-11 attacks.

On September 11, 2011, "Empty Sky", the official New Jersey memorial to 9/11 victims, was dedicated in Liberty State Park, New Jersey,

In Union City, New Jersey, which lost four of its residents during the attacks, the first 9/11 memorial was a sculpture placed in Doric Park, in whose courtyard citizens gathered on September 11, 2001 to view the attacks' aftereffects. On September 11, 2007, the city dedicated its Liberty Plaza to commemorate the event. The Plaza, which serves as a transit hub through which commuters pass on their way to and from Manhattan, includes two memorial markers. In subsequent years, citizens of neighboring towns have been honored at Liberty Plaza, including North Bergen resident David Lemagne, a Port Authority police officer who grew up in Union City, and perished during the attacks. Doric Park was later rebuilt as Firefighters Memorial Park, which opened in August 2009. A new memorial to local firefighters who gave their lives in the line of duty now stands in the entrance to the park's entrance, whose popularity has attracted visitors from Manhattan and Staten Island.

In September, 2008, a $3.5 million 9/11 memorial in the form of a glass cube was dedicated at Logan International Airport in Boston. The two jets that destroyed the World Trade Center had departed from Logan, and the memorial commemorates the 147 innocent victims aboard those flights.

In September 2011, the Firefighters from Clyde, NC unveiled a monument dedicated to the victims of the attacks. It is composed of sections of steel from the World Trade Center, with fencework designed to look like the lobbies in 1 and 2 WTC. It is located in front of the Clyde, NC fire department.

On September 11, 2012 the city of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina along with Golf Holiday unveiled a unity memorial located on the 29th Avenue North side of the Broadway at the Beach after receiving a steel beam recovered from the north tower of the World Trade Center as a “thank you” gift to the city from New York City firefighters for the hospitality they received in the months after terrorist attacks.