Arlington Burial for Pentagon Victims
— -- Memorial Service for Pentagon Victims
A R L I N G T O N, Va., Sept. 12 — With hymns, Scripture readings andspeeches from military leaders, relatives and friends paid theirrespects today at Arlington National Cemetery to the 184 victimsof last year's terrorist attack on the Pentagon.
"While there's nothing we can do to bring back those lovedones, we can celebrate who they were, how they lived their lives,and how their lives were lost: in a struggle to bring about humanfreedom," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.
Rumsfeld spoke next to a flag-draped casket containing crematedremains from the Pentagon rubble that could not be identified. Forfive of the victims, the internment in Arlington will be the onlyburial because no remains were confirmed to be theirs.
The five include a 60-year-old retired Army colonel and a3-year-old girl killed with her parents and sister aboard hijackedAmerican Airlines Flight 77.
Relatives of the victims sat solemnly, some hugging and weeping,others wiping away tears, as the crowd sang "Amazing Grace" andlistened to eulogies from military chaplains.
"Know that your country shares your sorrow, mourns your lossand prays that God will comfort you," Rumsfeld told the families.
A five-sided granite marker bearing the 184 names will standover a shared grave at the Arlington National Cemetery — thenation's most prestigious burial ground — holding the unidentifiedremains.
The 4-foot-5-inch-tall marker, with names of the dead inscribedon aluminum plaques, will be placed over the grave later, saidJennifer Lafley, spokeswoman for the Army Military District ofWashington. The Army oversees Arlington cemetery.
Most of the 64 victims already interred at Arlington are nearbyunder simple headstones, within sight of the repaired Pentagon.
In some cases, as recovery efforts continued, additional remainswere identified after a person was buried. Some of their familieschose to have those fragments held for the common burial site,Lafley said.
Many of the dead, including some who were working inside thePentagon on Sept. 11, did not qualify for burial at the nation'smost famous cemetery.
Arlington is generally reserved for active duty personnel,military retirees, retired reservists who reach age 60, winners ofthe military's highest decorations, and former prisoners of war.Their spouses also qualify.
Among the 275,000 people buried there are presidents John F.Kennedy and William Howard Taft, the crew of the space shuttleChallenger, and veterans of every war the United States has fought.
A year and a day after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, all ofthe dead from the Pentagon attack also share in the honors ofArlington.
"It's nice that they're remembering all the victims," saidSteve Push, whose wife, Lisa Raines, died inside the Pentagon. Shewas buried in November; Push said he wouldn't attend the additionalservice.
Some 13,000 people gathered to grieve and hear President Bush'swords at Pentagon memorial service on Wednesday, as Sept. 11 wasremembered across the nation. The Defense Department also plans tobuild a larger monument at the Pentagon.
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