An aerial view, from the southeast, showing the level of the destruction at the Pentagon caused by a terrorist attack. The morning of September 11th, in an attempt to frighten the American people, five members of Al-Qaida, a terrorist group of fundamentalist Muslims, hijacked American Airlines Flight 77, then deliberately impacted the Pentagon killing all 64 passengers onboard and 125 people on the ground. The impact destroyed or damaged four of the five rings in that section of the building. Firefighters fought the fire through the night. The Pentagon was the third target by four hijacked aircraft, the twin towers of the World Trade Center (WTC) were the other targets, and one unknown when the passengers brought the aircraft down in a Pennsylvania field. 9/14/2001; catalog.archives.gov/id/6606207 National Archives (accessed 9/3/2016)

Camera Operator: TSGT Cedric H. Rudisill, USAF

Series: Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files, 1982 - 2007