Bulletin Board of Losses Tells Who They Were, What They Did
By Rudi Williams
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2001 – "Oh, my God, I didn't know that
Kevin got killed!" Karen Saunders exclaimed.
Standing in a group of women looking at the large bulletin
board full of pictures of people who died in the Pentagon
terrorist attack Sept. 11, Saunders had come across the
tribute to Navy Petty Officer 2nd class Kevin Wayne Yokum,
a naval information systems technician.
Defense Department officials erected the three large
bulletin boards around the Pentagon's River Parade Field,
site of an Oct. 11 "United in Memory" ceremony. Photographs
and biographical sketches of those killed graced the
exhibit.
"It just shocked me to see Kevin's picture on the board,"
Saunders said. "He worked on the fourth floor between
Corridors 4 and 5 in the A Ring. He worked one floor under
me, almost in the same position. I've been trying to figure
out why, if he was in his office, he didn't make it out
like we did. He must have been walking around on that side
of the building. I can't think of any other way he would
have gotten killed."
Saunders said she knew several other people who were killed
because she works in the Office of the Administrative
Assistant to the Secretary of the Army's Equal Employment
Opportunity Office "where the biggest hit was taken."
"I went to high school with Lisa Young," she said. "She
graduated in 1982 and I came out in 1980. But I was closer
to Kevin than anyone else on this board. I said to myself,
'Isn't that interesting, the one that I was closest to I
would find out about like this?'
"He was a young man," Saunders said. "But I know he has
gone to a better place."
"I saw a lot of family members stopping by to look at the
boards," said Bob Leach of the Office of the Undersecretary
of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. "The
only person I knew personally was Bryan C. Jack, whom I
knew for about 17 years. He was an excellent economist,
kind, generous, intelligent, a true scholar, excellent
teacher. … I really miss him. He's a true loss."
Jack had been a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77,
which terrorists hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon.
The director of the programming and fiscal economics
division in the DoD Comptroller's shop, he'd been on his
way to give a speech in Monterey, Calif. Among other
responsibilities, Jack crunched America's defense budget.
Army Sgt. Maj. Gilbert Morales walked from panel to panel
looking at the pictures and reading the biographical
sketches of several people.
"I knew about a dozen or so of the people on the board,"
Morales said. "I was scheduled to replace one of them –
Sgt. Maj. Larry Strickland. It hurts me to see any of them
up there, but the people you know -- whether it be Sgt.
Maj. Strickland or Sgt. Maj. Ivory Lacey, whom I've known
for 12 years, Gen. Maude (Lt. Gen. Timothy J. Maude), whom
I would have worked for – it hurts. Maj. Kip Taylor, Maj.
Steve Long, Spc. Craig Amundson … just a whole list."
Morales said the bulletin board with biographical sketches
and pictures of each person are a fitting tribute that
tells people who they were and what they did in life. "I
didn't know that Max Beilke, who worked for us in Army
Personnel Command, was the last combat soldier out of
Vietnam," the sergeant major said. A retired master
sergeant, Beilke had only been in the Pentagon that morning
to attend a meeting for retirees.
"Then you read this bio on an 11-year-old boy who should
have had nothing to do except try to grow up. And they took
that from him," Morales said.
| Bob Leach read several of the biographical
sketches on the "board of losses" after the Oct. 11 United
in Memory ceremony but said he only knew one person on the
board, Bryan C. Jack. Photo by Rudi Williams (Click photo
for screen-resolution image; high resolution image available.)
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| Bob Leach, right, and Army Sgt. Maj. Gilbert
Morales search the "board of losses" after the Oct. 11
Pentagon United in Memory ceremony honoring those killed in
the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. Leach found only one name he
recognized. Morales found more than a dozen. Photo by Rudi
Williams (Click photo for screen-resolution image; high resolution image available.)
|
| Karen B. Saunders was shocked to find one of
her friend's name listed among those killed in the
terrorist attack on the Pentagon. "Oh, my God, I didn't
know Kevin got killed," she exclaimed after finding Navy
Petty Officer 2nd Class Kevin Wayne Yokum name list on the
Pentagon's "board of losses." Photo by Rudi Williams (Click
photo for screen-resolution image; high resolution image available.)
|
| DoD erected three large bulletin boards
around the River Parade Field, site of the Oct. 11 United
in Memory ceremony with photos and biographical sketches of
those who lost their lives in the terrorist attack on the
Pentagon. Photo by Rudi Williams (Click photo for screen-
resolution image; high resolution image available.)
|
| A civilian employee joins several soldiers
as they look at pictures and read biographical sketches of
people killed during the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the
Pentagon. Photo by Rudi Williams (Click photo for screen-
resolution image; high resolution image available.)
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