Rhonda Ridge Rasmussen – Department of the Army Employee

Rhonda Ridge Rasmussen read to her husband, Floyd, just about every night before going to bed. His eyes are bad, he says, and she enjoyed reading to him. The couple had just started a new book, one of the Harry Potter series.

There were so many other things she was looking forward to when she died, Floyd Rasmussen said of his wife, a former Sunday school teacher. For one thing, Mrs. Rasmussen, 44, who worked in the Army’s budget office in the Pentagon, had not developed the photographs the couple took on a trip to Europe a month earlier.

And the Rasmussens were planning to move back to California, where they met at a church dance on Dec. 31, 1973. Mr. Rasmussen, who also works at the Pentagon, said he may still head out West without her. “It’s a better place,” he said. There aren’t as many sad memories as there are here.”

Friday, August 16, 2002
Government to Bury Unidentifiable Remains

Unidentifiable remains of victims of the September 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, the military said Friday.

The September 12, 2002, ceremony will hold special significance for families of five people whose remains have never been identified, said Colonel Jody Draves, a spokeswoman for the Military District of Washington, which oversees the cemetery.

The service will include burial of the cremated ashes of all remains not linked to a particular victim, as well as some remains which were identified that family members asked to be included.

“The intent is not as a memorial service but as a group burial for victims not identified,” Draves said.

The Pentagon attack killed 189 people: 125 in the Pentagon and 64 aboard American Airlines Flight 77. Remains of the five hijackers on the flight have been separated from those of the victims.

The five victims whose remains have not been identified include:

Retired Army Colonel Ronald Golinski, a civilian Pentagon worker
Navy ET1 Ronald Henanway
Rhonda Rasmussen, a civilian worker for the Army
Jack T. Lynch, a civilian worker for the Navy
Dana Falkenberg, a passenger on Flight 77

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard