On the six-month anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, mayors and foreign military leaders made their way to the Pentagon, to pay their respects and see the reconstruction.
In Clarendon, local and state officials paid tribute to the county’s firefighters and police. County staff made plans for a tree-planting in honor of the 189 victims of the attack on the Pentagon.
At the site of the attack itself, construction workers kept working as they passed the halfway mark to reopening the wedge of the building destroyed in the attack.
"Yesterday, things carried on as they have all along," Brett Eaton said on Tuesday. Eaton, a spokesman for the reconstruction project, said that workers had spent March 11 pouring concrete for roof slabs. "So really, they were just as busy yesterday as they are every other day."
<b>Detail Work</b>
<bt>In a briefing last Thursday, Walker Lee Evey, supervisor of the reconstruction, said that workers had put about 860,000 hours of labor into getting the Pentagon to where it is today.
After the attack, and after firefighters had put out fires and secured the site, Evey and his staff spent five weeks testing the structure around the ruined section of the building.
Demolition on surrounding structure began Oct. 18, and ended Nov. 19 – one month and one day later, far short of the eight months the demolition was supposed to take.
Beginning Nov. 20, reconstruction began, and the fifth floor wall of the Pentagon’s outer E-ring was completed by March 7, and workers began placing the roof slabs.
By Friday, March 8, workers had placed 17,000 concrete slabs, more than 80 percent of the 21,000 that will make up the reconstruction. Evey said last week that limestone facing had already begun for the outside of the building, and 135 limestone slabs of the 4,200 that will line the outside of the Pentagon are already in place. Concrete work will be done by mid-April, and electricians have already begun wiring E-ring.
The goal, Evey said, is to finish work on the E ring, and have Pentagon employees back at desks in their offices in the section of the building hit by American Airlines Flight 77.
<b>Nearly Non-Stop</b>
<bt>Workers took off two days at Christmas and at New Year’s. But otherwise, they have been working almost non-stop since work began on Sept. 15, Evey said.
They did little to mark milestones, Eaton said, just kept working. But Evey and his staff have held several appreciation lunches, Eaton said. "Last week, they bought the workers Popeye’s fried chicken. They had 2,100 pieces of chicken delivered, and hundreds of biscuits," he said.
Workers at the World Trade Center still observe solemn rituals when they discover human remains. At the Pentagon, that has not been an issue – the last remains were discovered during the demolition phase.
"Most of the guys out there now recognize Sept. 11 as a significant event," Eaton said. "but they are looking toward the future now."
Evey and the site’s construction crews are enormously pleased with their progress, Eaton said. "I think everyone was pleasantly surprised with how things are going," he said. "Everyone is bending over backwards to get things done. They’re not letting things get held up by red tape, they’re not letting anything hold them up."
<b>County Honors</b>
<bt>Arlington dignitaries marked the anniversary of Sept. 11 around the county. Plans are afoot for a tree-planting ceremony in honor of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, and the county will make 386 trees available for sites around Arlington.
Several officials also joined county police and firefighters at Mr. Day’s Sports Bar in Clarendon Monday afternoon, to thank the public safety workers for their response on Sept. 11.
County Board Chair Chris Zimmerman (D) and US Rep. James Moran (D-8th) both thanked firefighters and police officers in speeches at the event. But for the most part, the evening was a chance for the officers to eat, drink, and be merry with their comrades.
They were also happy to see the progress of work at the Pentagon, after getting a close-up look at the destruction there last fall.
"I’m surprised that it is moving so fast," said Kervin Maske, one of the county’s firefighters.
Arlington Policeman James Giordano agreed. "It’s amazing that they built it up that quick," he Giordano said, "and that by the year anniversary, they will be opening it up" to employees.