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Pentagon Wears New Face at Dedication Capsule Ceremony
Tuesday, June 11, 2002
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

The bronze dedication capsule measures 7-by- 9-by-7.5 inches and was made in a foundry in Pittsburgh.
Image Credit: Gerry J. Gilmore -- AFPS.

The capsule isn't meant to be opened like a time capsule, Charles S. Abell, assistant secretary of defense for force management policy, said. "We don't intend to dig this out at any specific date in the future and have it available for historians and the curious," he added. "We just expect it to be there to commemorate the victims and the rebuilding effort and the war on terrorism."

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
If the Pentagon was a person, it might just be smiling right now as it wears a spanking new coat of bright limestone across its western wall.

A terrorist-hijacked airliner slammed into that wall nine months ago, killing 184 people. Today, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz participated in a Pentagon ceremony to install a special dedication capsule into that once ruined west wall.

Wolfowitz said local commuters passing by the Pentagon have "witnessed a truly remarkable transformation" since the terrorist attack.

"Today, we'll finish one important part of that remarkable transformation," he continued, "We will restore to its rightful place a block of Indiana limestone that builders first placed here six decades ago."

A discolored block of stone taken from the ruins of the west wall after the attack was used to cap the niche where the dedication capsule would be placed. The stone is inscribed with the date of the attack. Pentagon renovation program manager Walker Lee Evey, with Wolfowitz at his side, placed the capsule into the niche. Then, with the help of construction workers, the capstone was inserted into the opening.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

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