Vandals Plunder, Deface 9/11 Memorial

NAPERVILLE, Ill. – A piece of limestone from the Pentagon walls damaged in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks went missing from a local monument, presumably as the booty of some very petty thieves.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the theft was the latest in a series of defacing attacks on the monunent, which is on the Chicago suburb’s Riverwalk.
The 11’-tall monument is in honor of Dan Shanower, a U.S. Navy officer and Naperville native killed in the Pentagon attack, as well as the other victims of the attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. There’s also a 48’-long Wall of Faces with 140 portraits to represent all the victims.
The monument includes a twisted girder from New York’s World Trade Center, as well as chips of limestone from the Pentagon walls.
The most-recent assault on the monument, on Sept. 5, involved someone prying loose a plastic cover and swiping one of the limestone fragments, according to the Sun-Times. And, a few weeks before, vandals applied graffiti to the Wall of Faces.
In light of the vandalism, a security camera will likely be installed at the monument, and there’s a $1,000 reward for information on the defacement.
Pentagon officials also offered to replace the fragment. The Sun-Times reported that city officials have some pieces in reserve, but will likely accept the new pieces as well.