Victims of Terrorist Attack on the Pentagon Memorial The Victims of Terrorist Attack on the Pentagon Memorial is a memorial over a group burial site at Arlington National Cemetery in the United States . It commemorates the victims of the September 11 attack on The Pentagon . The memorial specifically honors the five individuals for whom no identifiable remains were found . However , a portion of the remains of 25 other victims are buried at the site . The names of the 125 Pentagon employees , as well as the 59 non - terrorist individuals ( 53 non - terrorist passengers and 6 crewmembers ) aboard American Airlines Flight 77 ( which crashed into the building ) are inscribed on the memorial . Creation of the memorial . After the 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon , Arlington National Cemetery Superintendent John C . Metzler , Jr . realized that there was a strong likelihood that many of the victims might not have their remains identified , while other remains might be commingled . Many of the victims would be military personnel whose families could choose to have their loved ones buried at Arlington . This would necessitate a group burial at the cemetery , and an appropriate monument to mark the grave . Metzler designed the memorial himself . He drew inspiration from the memorial to the 253 dead of the United States Coast Guard ship USS " Serpens " , which is located in the northern corner of Section 34 at Arlington National Cemetery . The " Serpens " memorial is octagonal in shape and lists the names of the dead on its side panels . The Victims of Terrorist Attack on the Pentagon Memorial is a pentagonal granite marker high . On five sides of the memorial along the top are inscribed the words " Victims of Terrorist Attack on the Pentagon September 11 , 2001 " . Aluminum plaques , painted black , are inscribed with the names of the 184 victims of the terrorist attack . There are five plaques , one for each side of the marker . The names of those aboard Flight 77 are marked with a diamond in front of their name . The names of those for whom no remains could be identified are marked with a star in front of their name . A pentagonal base extends approximately out and down from the main body of the memorial . The United States Department of Veterans Affairs commissioned the memorial . Granite Industries of Vermont , Inc . , of Washington County , Vermont , provided the marker . ( The company is also the sole provider of headstones for Arlington National Cemetery . ) The stone was quarried near Danby , Vermont , at a site underground and inside a mountain . Michael E . Cappetta , a stoneworker with Granite Industries , sculpted the marker . It was shipped on or about August 20 , 2002 , to the cemetery . Identification of the dead . Identifying remains at the Pentagon was a lengthy and technically complex task . The speed at which the aircraft struck the building , as well as the intensity of the subsequent fire , left few human remains to be found . Furthermore , the fire so damaged the DNA in some remains that they were impossible to identify . However , DNA analysis helped to identify many of the dead . Human remains were taken to a military mortuary at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware . The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology conducted the DNA analysis . Polymerase chain reaction was used to amplify the amount of usable DNA . The United States Department of Defense had previously collected " bloodstain cards " from all its civilian and military employees , and the DNA on these cards was used to identify many remains . Families of those aboard Flight 77 provided DNA samples ( from commonplace household items like combs or toothbrushes ) for use in identifying their loved ones . Not all the victims of the terrorist attack on the Pentagon qualified for burial at Arlington National Cemetery . Families of those who did often chose to bury the remains of their loved ones at a private cemetery . Sixty - four individuals who died at the Pentagon were buried at Arlington , and 57 of them were interred in Section 64 , their headstones facing the Pentagon about away to the southeast ( visible through a few trees ) . No remains could be identified for five victims : In some cases , additional remains were discovered and identified after a person had already been buried by their families . Some families chose to add these remains to an existing grave . But 25 families chose to have these fragments interred during the group burial rather than disinter their loved ones or hold a second memorial service . The additional remains were cremated , mixed together , and placed in an urn which in turn was placed inside a single wooden coffin . Five sets of remains were found but could not be identified . Military officials say that , by a process of elimination , they believed these remains to be those of the hijackers . Army Military District of Washington officials said the remains which were inextricably commingled were excluded from the burial so that there was no possibility that any terrorist remains were included . These terrorist and commingled remains were turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) in February 2002 . The FBI said the remains were " disposed of in a dignified manner ' " , although a very small amount of suspected terrorist remains were retained to aid in later criminal prosecutions . Dedication . The Victims of Terrorist Attack on the Pentagon Memorial was dedicated on September 12 , 2002 . A funeral service for the 30 victims was held at the Arlington Memorial Amphitheater , the first time the amphitheater had held such a service since the interment of an unknown member of the armed forces representing Vietnam War dead in 1984 . About 1 , 000 relatives attended the funeral service . The funeral was held the day after the one - year anniversary of the September 11 attacks . Many of these families felt the emotional strain was too much for two days of remembrances , and so chose not to attend the funeral . The September 12 funeral focused on the families of five victims whose remains could not be identified , although all victims were memorialized . United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and chaplains from each branch of the United States armed forces spoke , and United States Air Force General Richard Myers , chairman of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , attended . The United States Navy Band provided music . After the funeral , the casket was carried from the amphitheater by an Armed Forces casket team composed of two representatives from each of the four branches of the United States military . The casket team carried the coffin to a horse - drawn caisson provided by and guided by the 3rd US Infantry Regiment ( The Old Guard ) . The United States Army Band , an Army - Air Force honor guard platoon , a color guard from all four services , and a Navy - Marine honor guard platoon led the caisson to the grave site . The group burial site is located at the southern end of Section 64 , near Patton Circle . The site is on a slight rise , which gives it a view of the Pentagon . Several hundred people attended the graveside service . Wilbert Funeral Services of Laurel , Maryland , provided a burial vault . The grave was dug several days in advance , a concrete foundation for the memorial laid , and a specially - constructed burial vault placed on the foundation . The vault had a concrete core surrounded by three layers of bronze . It was lined with high - impact plastic , and the exterior encased in ABS plastic to simulate marble . The seal of the U . S . Department of Defense and the name of the memorial was inscribed on the cover of the burial vault using a special process . Near the grave was the memorial itself , next to which was displayed a funeral wreath in the shape of a pentagon and made from 184 red carnations . A rifle party gave a three - volley salute , and a bugle r provided by the Navy played " Taps " . The casket team secured and folded the American flag while the Army Band played " America the Beautiful " . General Myers accepted the flag on behalf of the Pentagon . Grief counselors from Operation Solace ( a group founded to assist the families of victims of the 9 / 11 attacks ) were present to assist families after the service . The memorial was installed over the group burial site about a week later . The burial vault was locked , concrete was poured over the vault to fill the grave , and the memorial emplaced once the concrete set . Ponsford , Ltd . , a company which provides conservation and curatorial services , maintains the monument and keeps it clean ( as it does for all the monuments at Arlington National Cemetery ) . Assessment of the memorial . The monument has not received much attention . A critic for " The Washington Times " , however , approvingly called it a " five - sided Rock of Ages " . Paul Goldberger , architecture critic for " The New Yorker " magazine , was more cautious . By inscribing the name of each victim , he said , the memorial risks becoming a private monument rather than a monument belonging to the entire nation or a symbol of something larger than an individual person .