Remembering 9/11: Twenty-Five Years Later

A firsthand photograph of the catastrophic damage to the Pentagon’s west facade after the September 11, 2001 attack. © David H. Enzel, 2001This is a direct view of the catastrophic structural damage to the west facade of the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, including the outer E Ring. I photographed this in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.At 9:37 a.m. EDT, hijacked American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757-223 registered N644AA, struck the west side of the building. Its radio call sign was American 77. The impact and ensuing fires caused severe damage across the E, D, and C Rings, exposing interior offices, structural framing, and the damaged limestone facade.The photograph also shows temporary shoring and stabilization work installed during the early recovery and reconstruction effort. That work became part of the Pentagon’s Phoenix Project, the high-priority effort to demolish, rebuild, and repair the damaged section of the building after the attack.The…