The longtime Southern Pines residents were guests at the groundbreaking ceremony for a memorial that will honor the 184 lives lost when American Air-lines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.
"All the families were invited to the groundbreaking for the 9/11 memorial which was set outside the corner of the Pentagon on a three-acre plot," say Lergner. "The memorial will have 184 chairs with a reflecting pool underneath. The chairs will honor victims who ranged in age from 3 to 71. Those killed inside the Pentagon will have chairs facing the building, and victims who died on the plane will be honored with chairs facing away from the Pentagon."
Van Fossem's son-in-law, Christopher Newton, died on board Flight 77.
"Chris and Amy had recently relocated from California in Sept. 2001," Lergner says. "Chris was a chief financial officer for a division of a core company. We'd been up there the week before, helping them unpack. Chris thought it was great to move to the East Coast, and Sept. 11 was his first flight out since moving east. Amy and the kids had dropped him off at the airport. He was going back to California to get the dog."
As Van Fossem watched the TV news on the morning of the attacks, she realized there was a chance Christopher was on the flight that had crashed into the Pentagon. She phoned her daughter who was shopping and unaware of the terrorists attacks.
Amy told her mother that she was certain Christopher's flight was well on its way before any of the hijackings occurred, but a call to Christopher's secretary confirmed their worst fears. Christopher Newton was one of the 184 victims who'd perished in the crash at the Pentagon.
Most of the victims on Flight 77 had no time to make phone calls.
"Chris had all the business gadgets including a cell phone, but there was apparently no time to leave messages," says Lergner. Newton last talked on his cell phone with a business associate in North Carolina.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice were present for the ceremony.
"We were given flag pins with the Pentagon on them identifying us as family members," says Lergner. "I was talking with another family member when I turned just as Rumsfeld turned and we looked directly at each other. He came over and shook my hand and thanked me for attending the ceremony. Even with all he has to do, Rumsfeld knew Chris' name. I thanked him for all he'd done for the families, and I told him he was a great man."
After talking with Rumsfeld, Lergner chatted with Rice. Rumsfeld and Rice mingled with families during the ceremony.
The Pentagon Memorial, designed by Julie Beckman and Keith Kaseman, will attempt to express the magnitude of the loss experienced by the families. A unit for each victim will be located on a respective age line, and each memorial unit inscribed will be lighted by a glowing pool.
The western edge of the site will be defined with an "age wall" which will "grow" in height one inch per year relative to the age line around which the entire site is organized. As visitors move deeper into the site, the wall will grow higher, from three inches for the 3-year-old Dana Falkenberg to 71 inches for John Yamnicky.
Shade trees, especially paperbark maple, will be planted throughout the site. As the maples mature, the cinnamon-colored bark will add texture and color to the memorial.
Christopher and Amy Newton have two children: Michael, 15, and Sarah, 13.
"It's been difficult for Michael," says Lergner. "As he's grown up, he's heard story after story about what his father did. It's hard for him not to have his dad. But government has done all they can to help the families. Amy had a phone number she could call, and anything she wanted to know about the crash, she was told.
"They found Chris's wedding ring six months after the crash -- after Amy thought it would never be found. You can still read the inscription in the ring."
Stephen Smith can be reached at travisses@hotmail.com. For information on making tax-deductible contributions to the Pentagon Memorial go to www.PentagonMemorial.net.
