Heart-wrenching moment at Logan

Memorial honors victims of 9/11

Seven years after her husband boarded American Airlines Flight 11 for a business meeting in California, Christie Coombs returned yesterday to Logan International Airport, the last piece of earth her husband, Jeffrey, touched before terrorists rammed his aircraft into the World Trade Center.

She wasn't sure she wanted to go back, but she was curious about all the new glass, granite, and steel assembled to commemorate the loss of her husband and 146 other passengers and crew members who died on two flights hijacked out of Logan that beautiful September morning in 2001.

"This is a tough week," said Coombs, as bagpipes skirled in the distance. "I didn't expect to have a lump in my throat."

Yesterday, Coombs and more than 100 other relatives of victims gathered with dignitaries and Logan employees outside the airport's Hilton Hotel for a ceremony to dedicate the new 2.5-acre, $4 million memorial to the victims of Sept. 11. The names of the dead are etched in two 11-foot-tall glass panels, each inscribed with the flight's departure time.

"I didn't expect it to be as heart-wrenching as it was," said Katherine Bailey, a Lynnfield resident whose husband, Garnet Edward "Ace" Bailey, a former Boston Bruin, died aboard United Airlines Flight 175. "We've been to so many services and memorials, but this makes me realize that my memories are not buried as deep in my heart as I thought they were."

The memorial - which will be open 24 hours a day - is set on a knoll between the hotel and Logan's Terminal A. Visitors can enter on two winding walkways meant to evoke the twisting flight paths of both planes. The paths lead through newly planted ginkgo trees to a glass cube housing the two panels.

"Our intention was to build a public memorial at Logan Airport that acknowledges the tremendous loss for all who had loved ones on those flights, both the heroic flight crews and the passengers as well," said Thomas J. Kinton Jr., chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Port Authority. "We believe this memorial accomplishes that."

The design by Boston-based Moskow Linn Architects Inc. was intended to "create a place at the airport for personal reflection, a place for comfort, and a place of remembrance for anyone whose life was forever changed on Sept. 11," said Robert Linn, an architect who helped design the memorial.

Governor Deval Patrick said: "This memorial honors the lives tragically lost seven years ago, pays tribute to the families and survivors left behind, and serves as a reminder to us all of the resilience of our country."

On the way in and out of the memorial is a round patio emblazoned with the words "Remember this day."

"This isn't just for the victims; it's for everyone," said Mike Sweeney, an Acton resident whose wife, Madeline, was a flight attendant on Flight 11. "There's some comfort here."

Lynn Greene, of East Boston, whose ex-husband was on Flight 175, said it helped to have a memorial close to home. "It provides some closure," she said.

After walking through the memorial, Sara Nelson, a flight attendant who worked with all the Flight 175crew members, hugged two friends, each of them in tears.

"We made a solemn vow never to forget our heros," said Nelson, who still works for United. "I'm very glad that Massport is helping us keep our word. That day changed all of our lives."