KWAME HOLMAN: On the day we visited, Tom Heidenberger and others agreed.TOM HEIDENBERGER: We want something better to come out of that ugly day. And, if you look at this park, at this memorial, as beautiful as it is on this overcast day, it tells a story. You hear the rushing of the water. You hear the peacefulness.
And the idea is to have something positive come out of the ugliness and the horrificness of that day. And, if you look about you, I think we have been successful. And Michele, most likely, is sitting here with me right now, saying, you know, job well done.
KWAME HOLMAN: The Pentagon 9/11 memorial is the first to be completed. Efforts still are under way at ground zero in New York and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Unlike the World Trade Center site, here, there were no business or legal obstacles to hold back development. The Pentagon memorial's designers and committees needed to deal with only one major player: the Department of Defense.
JIM LAYCHAK, President, Pentagon Memorial Fund: There was no question that the Pentagon was going to be rebuilt, and it was rebuilt in a year or so. We had a lot of different things going for us.
KWAME HOLMAN: Jim Laychak heads the Pentagon Memorial Fund, which raised most of the more than $20 million cost of the project through individual and corporate donations. Federal funds made up a small percentage.
The name of Laychak's brother David is on one of the memorial's benches.
JIM LAYCHAK: As one family member put it, the site was chosen that day, you know, because it's right near the impact site. We also knew that we couldn't have any kind of enclosed space, because you're right next to the building -- or to the Pentagon, so those two things, I believe, helped drive the simplicity of it.
KWAME HOLMAN: Throughout the design process, the architects consulted with family members, such as Laychak and Heidenberger.
JULIE BECKMAN: It was their idea to have a memorial. They selected the spot for it. We -- we brought them in on certain design decisions, where we were happy with one way or the other, but we really wanted them to have a say in -- in the final decision.
JIM LAYCHAK: I think that a lot of family members said that -- I have felt it -- that, as you walk in this place, you lose yourself in it and you kind of make a connection, you know, with the people that -- that have died. So, I think that's what makes this place special.
TOM HEIDENBERGER: Fortunately, today, it's overcast. But, on days like yesterday, crystal clear, crisp, blue, I'm always reminded of that day.
You will never get over it. You will never forget. It's all a function of coping and managing it. And, as Michele always said, life is for the living. Surviving is for the living.
KWAME HOLMAN: The president and the current and former secretaries of defense are to help dedicate the memorial on the seventh anniversary of the attacks. It opens to the public tomorrow night, and will remain open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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