Honored by an invitation to the dedication of the Pentagon Memorial due to its efforts at the Pentagon Family Assistance Center in 2001, Blue-Gray Spirit Keepers Therapy Dogs traveled to the Pentagon on September 11, 2008. Representing Delta Society, Therapy Dogs, Inc., and Therapy Dogs International, we joined in remembering those who perished on September 11, 2001 in the attack on the Pentagon.
Attending the emotion-laden ceremony were two of the original therapy dogs from the thirty days at the Pentagon Family Assistance Center in 2001, Howe (Greyhound) and Tasha (Border Terrier). Both slower and greyer, they still greeted and comforted with big hearts, spending time before and after the official observances with family members and others who had come to honor the fallen.
The Dedication ceremony, from the choruses, to the calling of each name accompanied by a single bell toll, to the solitary Bagpipe skirling Amazing Grace, was a once-in-a-lifetime event that we were privileged to attend and witness.
The Memorial, its simple peaceful design full of small details that became evident as you walked among the benches, trees, and water accents, is breathtaking and serene.
It was a day of smiles, tears, remembrances, comfort, hugs, solemnity, pride, reflection, and renewal….
