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CNN Live Today
Stained Glass Window Dedicated at Pentagon Chapel
Aired September 11, 2003 - 11:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Here at Ground Zero in New York City the names continue to be read after more than 2-1/2 hours. They are only up to the letter "T".
Let's take you back to the Pentagon, where my colleague Wolf Blitzer is covering the ceremonies there today -- Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Soledad. We're going to break away briefly from what's going on, the reading of the names in New York City, to go inside the Pentagon, where there's a new chapel that's been established at the Pentagon precisely at the location where the American Airlines flight slammed into the Pentagon exactly two years ago.
There is some of the flag dedication. A stained glass window dedication as well, remembering all of those who died here at the Pentagon. Let's go inside.
(MUSIC)
BLITZER: As we continue to watch and listen to the dedication of these stained glass windows inside the Pentagon at the chapel that's been established there, precisely at the spot where the American Airlines flight crashed.
And I want to bring in our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.
Barbara, tell us a little bit about these four stained glass windows.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These are very special indeed, Wolf.
These are four stained glass windows that represent the groups of people who perished at this site. They are dedicated to the people in the Navy, the Army, the civilians and those that were aboard the airliner that crashed into this building.
And what's so interesting about these windows is they were assembled last week, piece by piece, piece of glass by piece of glass, by the survivors in the building. They were invited in. Everyone was asked to put a piece of glass in one of the windows, and basically the windows were assembled by the people who lost friends, family, colleagues, in this building.
BLITZER: Barbara, you participated in that yourself. STARR: I was very moved. When I went to cover this story last week, one of the chaplains came up to me. He said, "We know you were in the building yourself that day. Would you like to put a piece of glass in one of the windows." And of course I very much wanted to and I decided that it would be a really good idea to put a piece of glass in on behalf of the entire Pentagon press corp. that was here that day, all of us very luck that morning to get out of the building very quickly.
BLITZER: 184 people were killed, 125 inside the Pentagon, civilians as well as military personnel. 59 people aboard the American Airlines flight 77, a Boeing 757, as it smashed into the Pentagon.
The flag that is being dedicated inside this chapel today, what do we know about this, this flag dedication?
STARR: Well, this is part of the whole effort to develop this very private chapel inside the Pentagon, an area that most of the public will never get to see. This is a secure building, of course.
But this is a place for the people who work here and the family members of those who died here, a place that they can come and reflect. And I must tell you that over the last couple of years I've gone down there several times. You can go in quite late in the day and very often find someone in there, just sitting quietly, reflecting.
Besides the chapel that you see here, there is a scroll of names, very much like the Vietnam Memorial, where people can take a piece of paper and etch the name of the person who died, maybe a family member, maybe a friend.
So it's an effort to develop a very quiet place in the Pentagon, a place where these people will never be forgotten.
BLITZER: And there will be another memorial that will be established here with 184 benches, but that's going to be down the road, almost like a little memorial park, that will be part of this overall commemoration, the remembrance of what happened here on 9-11.
We'll continue to watch what's happening here at the Pentagon, but let's go back to New York. Bill Hemmer is at Ground Zero.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 11, 2003 - 11:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Here at Ground Zero in New York City the names continue to be read after more than 2-1/2 hours. They are only up to the letter "T".
Let's take you back to the Pentagon, where my colleague Wolf Blitzer is covering the ceremonies there today -- Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Soledad. We're going to break away briefly from what's going on, the reading of the names in New York City, to go inside the Pentagon, where there's a new chapel that's been established at the Pentagon precisely at the location where the American Airlines flight slammed into the Pentagon exactly two years ago.
There is some of the flag dedication. A stained glass window dedication as well, remembering all of those who died here at the Pentagon. Let's go inside.
(MUSIC)
BLITZER: As we continue to watch and listen to the dedication of these stained glass windows inside the Pentagon at the chapel that's been established there, precisely at the spot where the American Airlines flight crashed.
And I want to bring in our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.
Barbara, tell us a little bit about these four stained glass windows.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These are very special indeed, Wolf.
These are four stained glass windows that represent the groups of people who perished at this site. They are dedicated to the people in the Navy, the Army, the civilians and those that were aboard the airliner that crashed into this building.
And what's so interesting about these windows is they were assembled last week, piece by piece, piece of glass by piece of glass, by the survivors in the building. They were invited in. Everyone was asked to put a piece of glass in one of the windows, and basically the windows were assembled by the people who lost friends, family, colleagues, in this building.
BLITZER: Barbara, you participated in that yourself. STARR: I was very moved. When I went to cover this story last week, one of the chaplains came up to me. He said, "We know you were in the building yourself that day. Would you like to put a piece of glass in one of the windows." And of course I very much wanted to and I decided that it would be a really good idea to put a piece of glass in on behalf of the entire Pentagon press corp. that was here that day, all of us very luck that morning to get out of the building very quickly.
BLITZER: 184 people were killed, 125 inside the Pentagon, civilians as well as military personnel. 59 people aboard the American Airlines flight 77, a Boeing 757, as it smashed into the Pentagon.
The flag that is being dedicated inside this chapel today, what do we know about this, this flag dedication?
STARR: Well, this is part of the whole effort to develop this very private chapel inside the Pentagon, an area that most of the public will never get to see. This is a secure building, of course.
But this is a place for the people who work here and the family members of those who died here, a place that they can come and reflect. And I must tell you that over the last couple of years I've gone down there several times. You can go in quite late in the day and very often find someone in there, just sitting quietly, reflecting.
Besides the chapel that you see here, there is a scroll of names, very much like the Vietnam Memorial, where people can take a piece of paper and etch the name of the person who died, maybe a family member, maybe a friend.
So it's an effort to develop a very quiet place in the Pentagon, a place where these people will never be forgotten.
BLITZER: And there will be another memorial that will be established here with 184 benches, but that's going to be down the road, almost like a little memorial park, that will be part of this overall commemoration, the remembrance of what happened here on 9-11.
We'll continue to watch what's happening here at the Pentagon, but let's go back to New York. Bill Hemmer is at Ground Zero.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
