The Pentagon
The Pentagon, headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, is located
in Arlington County, Virginia.
It was designed by architect George Bergstrom (1876–1955), and built by general contractor John McShain of Philadelphia. Ground was broken for construction
on September 11, 1941, and the building was dedicated on January 15, 1943.
General Brehon Somervell provided the major motive power behind the project,
Colonel Leslie Groves was responsible for overseeing the project for the U.S.
Army.
Northwest exposure of the Pentagon’s construction underway on July 1st,
1942
On September 11, 2001, the 60th anniversary of The Pentagon’s groundbreaking,
five al-Qaeda affiliated hijackers took control of American Airlines Flight 77, en
route from Washington Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles International
Airport, and deliberately crashed the Boeing 757 airliner into the western side
of the Pentagon at 9:37 am EDT as part of the September 11 attacks. All 64
people on the airliner were killed as were 125 people who were in the building.