Timeline at the Pentagon

The memorial:

Julie Beckman, 35, and Keith Kaseman, 36, who have since married, were only a few years out of college when they entered the design contest for the Pentagon Memorial, competing with more than 1,100 other entries in their first major design competition.

"We were living in New York on 9/11 and experienced the city in one of its darkest hours," Beckman said, adding that she and her partner had no real hope of winning and entered as "a way for us to deal with our grief."

Their winning design, which emerged from among six finalists, is now on display about 200 feet from where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the side of the Pentagon, killing 59 passengers and 125 inside the building. The demolished section of the Pentagon was repaired within a year, in time for the second anniversary of 9/11.

The memorial field, separated from the Pentagon by a tall black fence, is organized as a timeline of the victims’ ages, moving from the youngest, 3-year-old Dana Falkenberg, to the oldest, John D. Yamnicky, a 71-year-old Navy captain. Both were passengers on the flight.