than assembling them elsewhere and trucking them in, they were cast in place, poured into sheaths buried in the ground. Millions of cubic yards of dirt were trucked in to level the land, while the digging out of a nearby la- goon supplied another million. Construction proceeded at such
a breakneck pace the builders often found themselves waiting for the ar- chitects. As Vogel writes, sometimes the builders took matters into their own hands, taking the plans from the designers’ offi ces at night so they could continue working. Dr. Erin R. Mahan, DoD’s chief historian, notes that “in order to save scarce steel for military purposes, concrete ramps were constructed for people to move between fl oors.” Although 4,000 workers toiled day and night at the site, by the beginning of December, the project still was behind schedule. Then, the Japanese launched a sur- prise attack Dec. 7 on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and everything changed.
The Pentagon at war As large as the original design had been, it was no longer big enough, and changes quickly were drawn up that added a fi fth fl oor and boosted the number of concentric rings to fi ve. So many more men were hired that by January 1942, some 6,000 workers were on the job; at one point the number rose to 15,000, creating an acute housing shortage. Commer- cial tugs transporting gravel up the Potomac River were waylaid by War Department offi cials for the cause, according to Vogel, who reports the massive operation produced up to 3,500 yards of concrete each day. By the end of April 1942, most
of Wedge One was complete and the fi rst tenants began moving in, while construction continued on the remainder of the building. The building now known as the Penta- gon was declared offi cially complete
SEPTEMBER 2016 MILITARY OFFICER 59
This original concept drawing from the of- fice of the Quartermaster General was titled Arlington Office Building for War Department.
A map from 1945 shows the Pentagon’s com- plicated road network. (fac- ing page) Crews of up to 6,000 workers labored 24 hours a day in July 1942 to keep on schedule. (previous spread) Construction began Sept. 11, 1941, and was finished Jan. 15, 1943. Cost over- runs brought the final price tag to $83 million.
Prior to the Pentagon, the Munitions Building served as the Department of War headquarters.
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