Visit to the Pentagon

By: Modesto P. Sa-onoy

PLANNING to visit the center of American military power was a long shot, but I needed to get to the US Signal Corps where I secured several photographs about the war in Negros from March 29 until August 30, 1945 when Japan surrendered. The Signal Corps is the official recorder on film and photographs of the wars that the US had fought. My visit was in 1979 and this month is different. The Pentagon was attacked by terrorists on September 11, 2001 and now it is exceedingly but understandably conscious of tight security like other sensitive installations, as airports and even the archives.

Fortunately I befriended a retired Army colonel who was rehired by the Pentagon as a consultant, among others, for his heroic role in saving lives during that attack. Fred Douglas Young is one of the three military officers whose photographs are posted along the corridors of the Pentagon with the heroes of American war, like General Douglas MacArthur. He advised me on how to get an invitation.

There was need to file, two days earlier, a preregistration document and when accepted a visitor has issued an invitation. We were lucky because I think that “Doug” vouched for us.

Getting into the Pentagon means undergoing a strict security check. We went through a guarded door, then into a room where we were interviewed and photographed. Our passports were then sent to another office where visitors were told to wait until called. We passed through an x-ay machine where everything not attached to our body was screened, then into a cubicle for a full-body scan. We were questioned again and then given a visitor’s tag. Our passports were later returned and “Doug” led us for a tour of the facilities – actually along the corridors on the 5^th floor that also served as a sort of museum depicting the wars the US fought, from World War II to the wars in the Middle East.

The ground floor is like a high-end department store selling signature attires and accessories. There are even a barbershop, a shoeshine and repair section, a restaurant, and a pharmacy. It did not show the power and might of the place although men and women in uniform were everywhere. However, people in civilian clothes dominate the place. Normally the Pentagon has over 20,000 people working there but at certain times, over 30,000.

The Signal Corps is no longer there. I was informed earlier that all its photographs and films are now in the US National Archives. In fact, I have already secured three documentary films and planned to return that day to the National Archives after the morning Pentagon visit.

The tour brought us to the display of MacArthur’s photographs and artifacts of his life, from his ancestry to the wars he fought. They were splendid and I had planned to visit his museum and archives in Norfolk, Virginia to secure materials for our Negros War and Peace Museum. We could not secure copies of the materials on display in the Pentagon.

I did not see an exhibit of any other generals of the United States. I was informed that there is one about General George Marshall, but of the other military leaders of the wars, there was none. MacArthur’s words about the war were prominently exhibited. Except for its link to the life of MacArthur, there is no other display of the war in the Pacific.

The Vietnam War is given extensive coverage, covering more than one of the long corridors of the Pentagon. There were several artifacts of that war including a replica of the interior of the gunships that played a vital role in that conflict. The contributions of the Philippine Civic Action Group during the early days of that war were displayed and lauded.

A non-denominational chapel of remembrance was built at the place of the direct impact of the jetliner crash. Here are listed the victims of that attack.

We wanted to see more, but were constrained by time. Doug invited me to change my schedule so I could speak at their regular assembly about the war in the Philippines and its implications. He was keenly interested in the many subjects we talked about. But I had to decline.

Despite that brief visit, we got plenty of ideas on how to make our museum interactive.