Volume 57, Number 1 (2004) Winter

The Naval War College’s Patriots Memorial, dedicated on 9 September 2002 to the memory of the ten students and alumni of the College who were killed in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon on 11 September 2001. Constructed through donations from students, faculty, and friends of the College, the memorial stands in a grassy area between the College’s McCarty Little Hall and Conolly Hall (pictured in the background). It comprises, beside two benches and inscription blocks, a pentagon of hand-laid bricks surrounding a five-foot block of Indiana limestone recovered from the Pentagon’s west facade, which was severely damaged in the attack. The bronze plaque reads, over the names of the ten (nonresident) students and alumni: In Memory of / Naval War College / Students and Alumni / Who Gave Their Lives / While Serving the Nation.

The Patriots Memorial is a vivid reminder of the global challenges for which the Naval War College plays and important part in preparing officers of the U.S. armed forces—a role addressed by this issue’s lead articles, by Paul Wolfowitz, Major General William F. Burns, U.S. Army (Ret.), and Admiral Gregory G. Johnson, U.S. Navy.