Eagle Project - Pentagon Memorial 9/11

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Aug 25, 11:09 AM EDT

Scout's Pentagon Memorial set for dedication

LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) -- A granite monument with a limestone remnant from the Pentagon is Joey Ricketts' Eagle Scout project and memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The 5-foot memorial, installed this week in front of the American Legion Post 16, will be formally dedicated Saturday.

The project brought Joey and his father, Bobby Ricketts, to northern Virginia earlier this summer to attend a private groundbreaking for the national Pentagon Memorial. There he met Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, other dignitaries and family members of some of the victims.

 

The granite pedestal in Lynchburg features bronze plaques dedicating the monument to those who died at the Pentagon and aboard Flight 77 that day, including Col. David Scales. Scales' father, John Scales, is a longtime member of Post 16.

 

Tiles with pictures of David Scales and the crash site are placed above the plaques. Another plaque that lists the names of the victims will go on the back panel.

The pedestal also holds an interior piece of the Pentagon that a former employee donated to Joey.

The monument is under a white cloth and black tarp until Joey and his father unveil it at the dedication ceremony Saturday. Some 500 people are expected.

Bobby Ricketts said representatives from the Pentagon, as well as John Scales, are expected to give speeches at the event. The American Legion Honor Guard also will participate, he said.

The ceremony will include music from the brass quintet of the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra and the remaining members of a musical trio with whom David Scales played. David Scales was an accomplished pianist, Ricketts said.

"I'm starting to learn that David was an inspiration to a lot of people," Joey's father said.

Joey said he chose to create the monument for his Eagle Scout project because he felt that the victims of the Pentagon attack had not been recognized as much as those of the World Trade Center.

He spent the better part of the past two years writing letters asking for donations and designing the monument.

"Being a teenager, you don't want to be in the house writing letters; it was the last thing I wanted to do," he said.

When he first began, he estimated the project would cost $6,000. But as more donations came in, it grew larger. The finished project cost about $11,000.

He said he's looking forward to Sunday, when he can resume normal teen activities.

"I hope to go to the mall, just to get out of the house," he said.

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Information from: The News & Advance, http://www.newsadvance.com/

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