The Pentagon | |
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Arlington County, Virginia | |
Aerial view of the Pentagon circa 2008 |
"The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.
Designed by the American architect George Bergstrom (1876–1955), and built by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, general contractor John McShain, the building was dedicated on January 15, 1943, after ground was broken for construction on September 11, 1941. General Brehon Somervell provided the major motive power behind the project;[1] Colonel Leslie Groves was responsible for overseeing the project for the Army.
The Pentagon is the world's largest office building by floor area, with about 6,500,000 sq ft (604,000 m2), of which 3,700,000 sq ft (344,000 m2) are used as offices.[2][3]Approximately 23,000 military and civilian employees[3] and about 3,000 non-defense support personnel work in the Pentagon. It has five sides, five floors above ground, two basement levels, and five ring corridors per floor with a total of 17.5 mi (28.2 km)[3] of corridors. The Pentagon includes a five-acre (20,000 m2) central plaza, which is shaped like a pentagon and informally known as "ground zero", a nickname originating during the Cold War and based on the presumption that the Soviet Union would target one or more nuclear missiles at this central location in the outbreak of a nuclear war.[4]
On September 11, 2001, exactly 60 years after the building's groundbreaking, hijacked American Airlines Flight 77- a Boeing 757-223 was crashed into the western side of the Pentagon, killing 189 people, including five hijackers, 59 others aboard the plane, and 125 working in the building.[5]"
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Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!
Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/ (wait until Beth posts the today's Linky tool for the meme, then make your entry, if you want to join).
Great Maximums, Dorin!
ReplyDeleteWonderful maximums and always interesting info in your posts. Happy PFF!
ReplyDeleteWonderful cards and stamps! I hadn't heard of picture-it-postage before. I wish we had something similar.
ReplyDeleteAnother cool maxi cards from the coolest maxicard collector I know! Have a great weekend, Dorin.
ReplyDeletePostcards Crossing
I'd not thought about the size of the central plaza before. It's enormous.
ReplyDeleteI have a contest this week. Visit my blog and leave a comment to entered.
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Hello Dorin,
ReplyDeleteThanks to the PFF Beth meme I'm gonna travel the world and learn a little more about a lot of things. And with you I have the chance to have another view of the famous Pentagone. So this is it... Okay... Thanks for the share.
Hope you'll come by mine too someday
nice day
Grace