Pentagon Sept 11 memorial revives painful memories

By Andrew Gray

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - On the morning of September 11, 2001, Patrick Smith was walking toward a television set in a Pentagon office to get news of the attacks on New York's World Trade Center when he heard a loud boom.

"The wall in front of me kind of buckled inward," he recalled. "The ceiling tiles and wires all started coming down, then it went black and then ... a giant fireball just came over the wall."

Such scenes will pass through the minds of many survivors on Thursday, when the first major permanent U.S. memorial to commemorate the September 11 attacks will be dedicated to the 184 victims of the assault on the Pentagon.

The ceremony at the fortress-like headquarters of the U.S. military, attended by President George W. Bush, will take place exactly seven years after al Qaeda militants hijacked four airliners and killed almost 3,000 people.

Smith, a civilian who works for the U.S. Army, will be in the audience. He knows he is lucky to have that opportunity.

"I could hear and feel the hairs on my head and on my arms just starting to singe, just from the intense heat of the flame," he said. "If I'd walked six feet further, then the chances are I wouldn't be sitting here talking today."

Smith saw a colleague in the flames but she was unable to get out and he was unable to help her. A male colleague came running out of the flames, his clothes on fire.

Smith dived to the floor and crawled away from the inferno. He took the hand of a wounded colleague and together they found their way to safety.

"She had second-degree burns and the skin was actually starting to peel off her face," he said.

The memories have become less intense over time but will never fade completely, Smith said.

He believes the memorial park at the Pentagon created by New York-based designers Julie Beckman and Keith Kaseman, which features maple trees, light pools and a bench to commemorate each victim, is a fitting tribute to those who died.

"They did a great job with it," said Smith, who was working in the Army's personnel department at the time of the attack.

EERIE SILENCE

Smith said there was a thought in the back of his mind that the Pentagon, a major symbol of U.S. military power, could be targeted after two planes slammed into the World Trade Center.

That idea came to the front of Army Sgt. Jessica Walker's mind after watching the scenes from New York on television.