The 180th Fighter Wing dedicated a 9/11 memorial located at the center of the Ohio Air National Guard base in Toledo, Ohio on September 11, 2017.
This memorial was designed to honor the victims of the 9/11/2001 attacks. 2,977 lives lost were remembered with colored glass agates embedded in three markers representing The World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Each life was symbolized with a distinctive color: white agates for civilians, blue agates for law enforcement, red agates for firefighters, and green agates for military members. Each of the nearly 3,000 stars is unique, just as every life is unique.
Members of the 180th Fighter Wing worked diligently to secure a beam from the World Trade Center, limestone from the Pentagon, and soil from the Pennsylvania field where Flight 93 ended. These precious reminders of those who perished in the terrorist attacks are located within a “clock” that encircles a massive American flag. This Memorial “clock” is engineered in such a way so the flag pole’s shadow will strike at precisely 8:46 a.m. on every anniversary of September 11th, representing the time the first plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center and changed our lives forever. This unique feature was designed, tested, and successful thanks to The JDI Group’s very own structural design specialist and retired military veteran, Brian Lauderman.
Glass ingots, one for each soul lost, were incorporated into the display. Informational podiums marked the time of each plane’s impact on our country.
This memorial serves as a reminder to the members of the 180th Fighter Wing to never lose sight of their mission and to Never Forget.
