Over the past six years, the Tribute Center has welcomed victims of other disasters to meet our guides. Sharing the personal experiences among victims has inspired hope and helped in emotional recovery and community rebuilding.  On August 13, ten students from the Tohoku region in Japan will be coming to the Tribute Center to learn about the events of 9/11 and meet Tribute docents.  

The high school and college students are coming to the United States under the auspices of the organization Beyond Tomorrow, which was established in June 2011 to support young victims who "despite facing great adversity after the Great East Japan earthquake, did not lose hope and continued to embrace a dream to give back to society in the future."  The students have scholarships to attend top universities and are being given leadership training to become active global leaders.  

In addition to visiting New York, they will visit communities in New Orleans that are rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, and will attend urban planning lectures at MIT and Harvard.  One of the visiting students says "he would like to interact with victims of disasters, draw lessons of supporting the vulnerable, and replicate the learning for Tohoku and the world in the future."

USS ARLINGTON (LPD 24)  & USS SOMERSET (LPD 25) Naming Ceremony. Photo by Craig Stawser.

The USS ARLINGTON (LPD-24), a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, is planned to be the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Arlington, Virginia, the location of the Pentagon. Like her sister ships, USS NEW YORK and USS SOMERSET, she is named in commemoration of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Steel taken from the Pentagon after the September 11 attacks will be displayed aboard.

USS ARLINGTON's keel was laid down on May 26, 2008, at Northrop Grumman's Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was launched on November 23, 2010, with her christening on March 26, 2011. Mrs. Joyce Rumsfeld, wife of former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, is the ship's sponsor. Please note that the Commissioning date has not yet been set. USS ARLINGTON will be commissioned sometime in the autumn of 2012.

The USS SOMERSET (LPD 25), the last of three Navy ships named for 9/11 attack sites - was christened July 28, 2012 in honor of the passengers and crew of Flight 93. LPD 25 is the ninth ship of the San Antonio class, and is named in honor of the courage of the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville in Somerset County, Pa. on 9/11. Mary Jo Myers, wife of retired former Joint Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Myers, is the ship's sponsor and had the honor of breaking the champagne bottle across the bow during christening ceremonies for the USS SOMERSET at the Huntington Ingalls Industries Shipyard in Avondale, LA. LPD is 684 feet long with a 105-foot beam. It weighs 24,900 tons and takes five years to build. The technologically advanced transport ships are part of an Amphibious Ready Group used to transport Marines and their equipment. They have a crew of 360 and can carry up to 800 troops and their equipment.

The 9/11 Tribute Center has a new facade, inviting visitors to come inside to learn and hear "The Stories of 9/11 Told by Those Who Were There". The new signage highlights the unique programs at the Tribute Center where volunteers tell their story and experiences to thousands of educators, school groups, and visitors every year. As you pass Tribute, you'll now get a glimpse of who we are and what we do.

Four of our volunteers are featured in life-size photos, a survivor, resident, firefighter, and family member. As you walk from one side to the other, banners overhead coincide with facade images depicting different constituencies of the 9/11 Tribute Center. 

In November 2007, Philippe Petit and Guy Tozzoli reminisced about their spectacular shared experience in a talk at the Tribute Center.