The 'Other' Tragedy
The attack on the Pentagon left heroes, victims, survivors, Here's their story
After three weeks in the hospital, Wayne Sinclair found his rescuer after the Washington Post published a short story on his escape. "You sure were my guardian angel that day," he told Officer Hoopii. "I'm just so happy you are alive," Hoopii replied. Now, they are fast friends. Hoopii is back working with a bomb-sniffing dog, but every night, he looks at the Pentagon and thinks: "There are so many people there who won't be going home, and I am so fortunate to go home."
Right after the attack, a shrine was erected at the center for Pentagon families. Beneath the photo of Jim Lynch was a box brimming with gold-wrapped Werther's Originals and a note: "Have a candy and a smile for the Candy Man."
Shortly after September 11, Trish Hackett quit her Pentagon job to join her husband, stationed with the Army in Turkey, sooner than planned. Life is too fragile, she realized, when she saw the Candy Man's name on the list of the dead. "To Jim Lynch, thank you for your bright smile and happy heart," she wrote in her eulogy of him. "I only hope you have a very large pocketful of Werther's Originals with you because I have heard they are the angels' favorite candy."
Making the Pentagon whole
The crash of American Airlines Flight 77 damaged or destroyed 2 million square feet of office space (wedges 1 and 2), of which about 400,000 square feet is being demolished and rebuilt. Crews have cleared much of the debris, and Pentagon officials intend to have people working in the refurbished space of the outermost ring by Sept. 11, 2002. One eerie fact: Ground for the Pentagon was broken on Sept. 11, 1941.
Structural damage
At 350 miles per hour, the Boeing 757 slammed into the first and second floors of the Pentagon's western face at a 45-degree angle between corridors 4 and 5. The plane blasted through rings E, D, and C, and parts of it were found between rings C and B. It damaged some 400 support columns, some severely and some with microfractures. The plane sliced through part of the building's recently renovated section, which was reinforced by floor-to-ceiling steel beams. Between the beams was a Kevlar-like mesh, similar to the material in bulletproof vests, designed to keep concrete from turning into shrapnel. Together, the reinforcement kept the upper floors from collapsing for about 35 minutes. The new blast-resistant windows did not shatter. The new sprinkler system kept the fire from spreading.
Demolition and reconstruction
Demolition began on October 18 and was completed November 19. Crews worked around the clock. One machine crew used an MP20, an excavator that takes 5,000-pound bites out of buildings. Only two such machines exist in the nation--the other one is in New York at ground zero. Soot and water damage were pervasive. In some offices, furniture and drywall were covered with mold from the millions of gallons of water used to fight the fire. When the plane hit wedge 1, workers were just a few days away from completing a three-year renovation of that section. Now, planners are starting over. Some limestone is coming from the southern Indiana quarries that supplied the original stone, and some charred pieces of stone are being cleaned and will be reused. Other blackened pieces will go to museums or a planned memorial. The cost of rebuilding the Pentagon is estimated at $1 billion.
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