From Ruins, Pentagon Rises Renewed

Washington Post Online ^ | September 8, 2002 | Steve Vogel

[Jeff F]

We need a goal, the Pentagon construction worker told W. Lee Evey.

It was a few weeks after Sept. 11, and Evey, the head of the Pentagon renovation program, was walking through the area demolished by the hijacked plane and blackened by fire when a group of laborers stopped him.

"We've all been talking about it, and we think the goal ought to be that you move people back within a year," their leader said. "Not everybody, that's probably impossible, but some reasonable number."...

[Jeff F]

This is an absolutely terrific article.

[Alas Babylon!]

Yes it is. For once in my life, I can say I really respect the Washington Post (at least for this article).

I used to work in the Pentagon, in BE-685 (Basement level, E ring, spoke 6, room 85). It is under the Mall entrance. Basically, it stored the mainframe computers for the National Military Command Center (NMCC). My shift had about 45 airmen, marines, sailors and soldiers. I was a master sergeant at the time and in charge of one of the computer rooms. I left there in 1991 after a three year tour. I often wonder what damage, if any, was sustained there. Does anyone know?

I can imagine it got flooded and therefore ruined. Pretty damn sad for me, but this story lifts me up!

[goldstategop]

Absolutely a terrific article. It shows the "can do" spirit is still alive and well in America and when people are determined to make something happen, it comes true. The terrorists who attacked America on 9-11 didn't know us as well as they thought. The real strength of America isn't in her buildings; its in her people. And it is nowhere clearer in the Pentagon having been rebuilt in less than a year. America is far from being in ruins; America is stronger and far greater than she was in the aftermath of 9-11 last year. That is the real legacy of that terrible day. God Bless America!

[Alas Babylon!]

Bump!!!!

[Alas Babylon!]

Bumping again! Come on folks, it's actually good!

[VRWC For Truth]

Kilsheimer told Evey would take the job, but only under these conditions: I follow no rules but my own rules; I won't deal with anybody wearing white shirts, except for you; and I won't deal with any lawyers or any military people except at my choice.

I like this guy!

[Jeff F]

All his life, he had been a maniac about work, but his pace at the Pentagon was extreme, even for Kilsheimer. He'd go to sleep about 10 p.m. and be wide awake by midnight. A half-hour later, he'd be at his office and work until 4:20 a.m, when he'd drive to the Pentagon for the day's first meeting at 4:30 a.m. He'd eat an apple on the way for breakfast.

His work ethic came from his parents. They were German Jews who had escaped the Nazis with the help of an American reporter who had intervened when his mother, pregnant with him, was about to be dragged off a train.....

Two weeks ago, Kilsheimer visited the cemetery where his parents are buried, off New Hampshire Avenue in Prince George's County. It was the first time he'd been able to make it there since Sept. 11. He told his parents he had been able to pay back a debt the family owed to America.

The President should honor Allyn Kilsheimer with the Medal of Freedom. His is the kind of story that needs to be highlighted at this moment in history.

[Erasmus]

Here's an additional suggestion.

General Leslie Groves was the military man in charge of the Manhattan Engineering District (The WW II A-bomb project). Trained as a civil engineer, he was chosen for the project one the strength of his amazing performance in getting the Pentagon built (in just 16 months, the article reports).

Groves was awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit for his service.

Congress should invent the Leslie Groves Medal so they can give it to Allyn Kilsheimer.

[VOA]

Congress should invent the Leslie Groves Medal so they can give it to Allyn Kilsheimer.

Agreed.
I was suprised that even PBS's evening News Hour aired Kilsheimer saying that
he basically demanded total control and to not have to answer to bureaucrats
in order to get the job done.

What got me was that the reporter said that when their crew visited, the pace
of the workers was so frenetic that they couldn't get hardly get a worker
to stop and answer a few questions for the cameras.

[Jeff F]

Congress should invent the Leslie Groves Medal so they can give it to Allyn Kilshei.

Excellent!

[Alas Babylon!]

Wow! The American spirit lives on in these workers. No less than we had in 1941-1945. The whole world, especially the Islamic fundies, should take note.

[chimera]

There's a lesson to be learned here, especially for those who say let the WTC site lie fallow. The Pentagon folks would have none of that lay-down-and-die attitude. They've built it back, better than before.

One could argue that the destruction at the WTC is far greater and that would be an accurate superficial analysis. But sometimes when faced with a greater loss one must summon a greater courage and dig deeper for a greater resolve. The world will be watching what happens at Ground Zero, and it will reveal a lot of what we as a people are made of.