Pentagon Memorial to break ground on Visitor Education Center

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Pentagon Memorial Fund will break ground Sept. 12 on its long-planned National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial Visitor Education Center, 25 years after the attack on the U.S. military headquarters claimed 184 lives.

The 52,000-square-foot visitor center will sit just across Washington Boulevard from the Pentagon Memorial, the hallowed grounds in the shadow of the Pentagon’s western-facing wall where American Airlines Flight 77 struck. The center features tree-covered benches honoring each of the victims killed in the 2001 attack. It will include artifacts from Sept. 11, 2001, interactive displays, and detailed firsthand accounts from survivors and victims’ family members, said Joseph Kornhoff, the Pentagon Memorial Fund’s executive director.

“While we were the first of the three attack sites to honor and create a memorial to our victims, we remain the only site without a visitor education center, and so we are looking to change that,” Kornhoff said.

The groundbreaking was made possible by $12 million in federal funding that was included in the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act — the annual must-pass defense bill that authorizes military spending and sets Congress’ policy priorities for the Defense Department — and additional funds from the Virginia government and private donations. Kornhoff hopes more federal funding will be included in future legislation. Officials estimate the center will cost about $100 million.

Artist rendering of a part of the future visitor center. (Pentagon Memorial Fund)

Artist rendering of the future visitor center. (Pentagon Memorial Fund)

The Pentagon Memorial Fund aims to open the visitor center in 2029.

For Kornhoff, the groundbreaking marks a major milestone in a project that feels personal to him. Kornhoff’s mother was a Pentagon civilian employee who survived the attack. He joined the Army as an officer after 9/11, partially because of the terror attacks that day, and he later served two combat tours in Afghanistan.

The visitor center will keep the stories from the 9/11 attacks at the Pentagon alive for younger generations of Americans who do not remember or were not yet born, Kornhoff said.

“If you were alive on 9/11, you know exactly where you were and exactly what you were doing,” he said. “And for this new generation that doesn’t have that personalized connection, that’s really what we hope to provide for our future leaders of this nation — to really continue that mission of educating and never forgetting.”

And, of course, it will honor the 184 souls lost in the attack, he said.

“We’ll talk about the EMS and the first responders that responded that day, and the heroism from that community,” Kornhoff said. “We’ll talk about some of the heroic stories and the resiliency of those family members and survivors … and just really show how 9/11 families and victims were able to build themselves up back out of the ashes and help other people through their own grief.”

The Pentagon Memorial honors the 184 people killed at the Pentagon and on American Airlines flight 77 in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. (Brien Aho/U.S. navy)