How Arlington cemetery honors Pentagon 9/11 victims whose remains were never found

A powerful feeling comes over you as you approach the Pentagon Group Burial Marker. It stands out among the meticulously positioned headstones surrounding it at Arlington National Cemetery.

The marker in Section 64, honors the 184 people killed at the Pentagon on 9/11.

“These were budget analysts. These were accountants. People who were GS employees just like me,” said cemetery historian Allison Finkelstein.

The marker is shaped like the Pentagon, within view of the place where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building.

A funeral service was held in the cemetery on Sept. 12, 2002, to honor all Pentagon victims and five families in particular: those who lost loved ones whose remains were never recovered.

As you start to read the victims’ names, that powerful feeling comes back.

“They went into work that day, doing their job at the Pentagon, never expecting that they would become victims of this terrorist attack and be buried here at Arlington among uniformed service members,” Finkelstein said.

A diamond next to a victim’s name signifies that person was on the plane. A star indicates someone whose remains were never identified.

“One of them was a 3-year-old girl. That just really got me last night,” Finkelstein said.

She was Dana Falkenberg, of University Park, Maryland. She was with her mother, Leslie, an associate dean at Georgetown University; her father, Charles and her sister, Zoe.

“Whether you were in the military, whether you were a civilian government employee, whether you were a regular person – American or international – on that plane, you are still remembered and honored here at Arlington,” Finkelstein said. “It does not matter why you became part of that tragedy. In death, you are part of the story that we are commemorating here.”

At Arlington, remembering 26 or 206 years from the tragedy will be just as significant as year 25, because as long as their stories are told, we will never forget.

President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice honored the people killed at the Pentagon 25 years ago: 59 passengers and crew members on board the plane, along with 125 people in the building. News4’s Megan McGrath describes reporting on the attack and how victims and first responders were honored on the 25th anniversary.