ITT employees in Amory, Mississippi, are rolling up their sleeves to light up a new Pentagon Memorial.
The most inspiring memorials don't just draw us in visually; they compel us to touch the marble, the granite, the bronze, as a way of connecting with the honored dead.
Randall Wigginton wants to give all his co-workers the chance to pay hands-on homage to the 184 individuals killed at the Pentagon and aboard Flight 77 during the 9/11 attacks. They'll get that opportunity without having to leave their workplace in Amory, Mississippi.
The ITT facility in Amory, which manufactures valves as part of the company's newly formed Industrial & BioPharm Group, has been chosen to fabricate light/control valve housings for a planned Pentagon Memorial that will occupy almost two acres of the Pentagon's west lawn.
"Everyone here is very proud of our participation," says Wigginton, who serves as operations manager of the Amory site. "We're excited about using our skills to help create a lasting monument that will commemorate the victims and give comfort to their families."
The memorial, to be built entirely with private funds, will encompass a park-like field of 184 cantilevered benches, aligned parallel to the flight path of the jet that struck the Pentagon on September 11. Each bench will be inscribed with a victim's name. The Amory housings will illuminate the benches and reflection pools, and also provide light for walking through the memorial at night.
ITT will be working with the Memorial team over the next few months developing a prototype. Production will start next June, with Amory delivering four finished units a week. Opening of the Pentagon Memorial is planned for the spring of 2008.
Spaced out over the length of the job, all 91 Amory plant associates, including office staff, will get the opportunity to contribute their labor. "I'm inviting everyone to wear their work clothes one day and spend some time in the shop actually working on the parts," says Wigginton. He doesn't expect any turndowns. "I think I speak for everyone here when I say we're all eager to demonstrate our patriotism and pay our respects to the victims of this tragedy."
(Top) The Pentagon Memorial will be illuminated at night by ITT light fixtures. (Below) Co-designer of the Pentagon Memorial, Keith Kaseman (l.) of the KBAS design firm, talks with welder Murray Nails (center) and supervisor Mike Todd during a visit to the ITT plant in Amory.
Solving a Design Challenge
The Pentagon Memorial will feature benches that look more like pieces of sculpture and appear to float above lighted pools of water. The light housings presented a design challenge. "Not only do they have to perform the lighting function," says Julie Beckham of KBAS who served as co-designer of the memorial, "but they also have to serve as a corrosion-proof utility box housing control valves and water/debris strainers. To all these functions, add the requirement of compactness." The ITT team in Amory came up with an innovative design for the housings, which will be made from Ferralium 225, a super duplex stainless steel alloy that is dent-proof and highly resistant to corrosion.
To learn more about the memorial, or make a donation, go to www.pentagonmemorial.net.