This handwritten post card was sent by Leslie Whittington and family at Dulles Airport prior to their departure on American Airlines Flight 77 that was hijacked into the Pentagon. The postcard was cancelled on September 12, 2001. The message on the reverse was addressed to her sister.
This card was used to gain access to the Navy Command Center on the first floor of the D ring in the Pentagon. The Command Center was staffed 24 hours a day by personnel who monitored U.S. naval units around the world and watched worldwide news broadcasts.
Description: This scorched eagle finial from an office flagpole was recovered from the wreckage at the Pentagon.
Context: The Pentagon houses over 23,000 civilian and military employees, and is headquarters for the U.S. Department of Defense. For the collecting curators, this damaged eagle, which once rested atop an office flagpole in the Pentagon, symbolically represents the U.S. military. After the attack the search-and-rescue effort was followed immediately by cleanup and reconstruction. Undaunted by the terrorist assault, some displaced workers were back in their offices less than one year after the attack.
Description: This burned paper currency and tin of melted coins were recovered from the damaged offices in the Pentagon.
Context: When the hijacked airplane was crashed into the Pentagon, the jet fuel ignited a huge fire. The heat from the blaze was so intense that it melted coins stored in this tin on an office worker’s desk.
The Pentagon houses over 23,000 civilian and military employees, and is the headquarters for the U.S. Department of Defense. In the Pentagon attack, 125 employees were killed and some 140 more were injured.
This computer monitor, serial number 10C41000565, was part of a collection of equipment and personal possessions recovered from the wreckage of the Pentagon after the September 11 attack.
This computer mouse, serial number C4103A, was part of a collection of equipment and personal possessions recovered from the wreckage of the Pentagon after the September 11 attack.
This computer keyboard, serial number AP42436B26FA, was part of a collection of equipment and possessions recovered from the wreckage of the Pentagon after the September 11 attack.
Description: This Pentagon corridor map hung on the second floor of the innermost A ring, close to where the hijacked airplane hit the building.
Had the fuselage of American Airlines flight 77 penetrated further into the Pentagon, it would have hit the wall where this locator map was hanging.
Context: The distinctive shape of the Pentagon—the largest office building in the world—with its five sides and five concentric rings is plainly visible on this corridor locator map. Completed in 1943 under the urgencies of World War II, the Pentagon was built to provide a central headquarters for an expanded U.S. military. Maps such as this are familiar sights to Pentagon employees and visitors.
The airplane that terrorists hijacked and crashed into the building slid through the E, D, and C rings, and fire spread throughout much of the entire wedge.
Description: This panel was part of Foam Truck 161 operated by the Fort Myer Fire and Emergency Services Division, Pentagon Station.
Context: This fire truck panel, covered with soot and pockmarked by flying debris, is mute testimony to the intensity of the plane crash. On the morning of September 11, Mark Skipper and fellow firefighter Alan Wallace pulled Foam Truck 161 out of the Pentagon firehouse and parked it next to the Pentagon helipad in preparation for President Bush’s planned arrival later in the day. Debris from the crash of the airliner into the Pentagon destroyed the back of the truck and threw Skipper to the ground. After calling for help on the truck radio and extinguishing the burning truck, the firefighters turned their attention to the heavily damaged Pentagon.
Description: This copy of Soldiers magazine, dated September 2001, was recovered from the wreckage of the Pentagon.
Context: Being a U.S. soldier has always been a dangerous job. The Pentagon is the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense and houses over 16,000 military employees. Despite the magnitude of the September 11 attacks—125 Pentagon employees were killed and some 140 others were injured—work continued at the Pentagon as cleanup and reconstruction commenced.