On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, we honor those who lost their lives, the families forever changed, and the extraordinary people who helped our nation respond and recover. For ServiceMaster NCR, that remembrance is deeply personal. Our team was the first restoration company to respond to the Pentagon and remained committed to the work until our restoration assignment was complete.

A Day That Changed Our Nation

On September 11, 2001, the United States experienced a terrorist attack that would forever change our nation.

At 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 struck the western side of the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The attack killed 184 people aboard the aircraft and inside the building.

For those who lived and worked in the Washington, D.C., region, the tragedy was unfolding in our own community. Smoke rose from one of the most recognizable buildings in America as firefighters, law enforcement officers, military personnel, medical teams, and other emergency responders rushed toward the Pentagon.

Their immediate mission was saving lives, controlling the fire, securing the site, and beginning the difficult work of recovery.

But another challenge quickly emerged.

The Pentagon was not simply a damaged building. It was the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, and the country was facing an unprecedented national security crisis. The building and the people working inside it needed to continue their mission.

ServiceMaster NCR was called to help make that possible.

Answering the Call

Less than two hours after the attack, ServiceMaster received a call for assistance at the Pentagon. Mobilization began immediately.

For ServiceMaster NCR, then known as ServiceMaster of Alexandria, the response was local and personal. Greg Gandee, the company's owner at the time, was among the first ServiceMaster owners involved in coordinating the restoration response.

ServiceMaster NCR was the first restoration company to respond to the Pentagon and helped lead the effort as resources from throughout the ServiceMaster network began arriving in Washington.

By the morning of September 12, an initial group of approximately 50 trained technicians had gathered in the Pentagon's western parking lot. More people, equipment, and supplies were already on the way.

The operation would ultimately grow to include hundreds of ServiceMaster professionals from dozens of locations.

What began as an emergency response became one of the most significant restoration assignments in ServiceMaster history.

Restoration in the Middle of a National Tragedy

Every restoration project begins with disruption. A fire, flood, storm, or other disaster can turn someone's life upside down in a matter of minutes.

The Pentagon was different.

The restoration teams were entering the site of a terrorist attack where people had lost coworkers, friends, and family members only hours earlier.

The people returning to the building were not simply employees waiting for an office to reopen. Many were grieving. Some had witnessed the attack. Others were returning to work while processing what had happened to colleagues and friends.

Restoration professionals therefore had a responsibility that went beyond cleaning and repairing a building.

The work required discretion, patience, professionalism, and enormous respect for the people around them.

Over time, ServiceMaster employees came to know Pentagon personnel and members of the security teams. They heard stories about the people who had been lost and saw firsthand the determination of Pentagon employees to continue their work despite the tragedy.

It reinforced something that has remained central to ServiceMaster NCR ever since:

Restoration is ultimately about people.

We restore buildings because people depend on them. We help businesses reopen because employees and communities rely on them. We restore homes because families need a place where life can begin returning to normal.

At the Pentagon, that responsibility took on national significance.

A Restoration Project Unlike Any Other

The Pentagon encompasses approximately 6.5 million square feet, making it one of the world's largest office buildings.

The aircraft impact and resulting fire caused catastrophic damage to the western portion of the building. But the restoration challenge extended well beyond the immediate impact zone.

Smoke and soot traveled throughout adjoining areas. Water from firefighting operations and sprinkler systems affected additional spaces. Offices and corridors that had escaped direct structural destruction still required extensive cleaning and restoration.

ServiceMaster's historical accounts describe work involving more than 17 miles of hallways, lobbies, and corridors.

At the height of the response, more than 300 ServiceMaster owners, employees, and support personnel were working at the Pentagon, with professionals from approximately 60 ServiceMaster locations contributing to the effort.

Crews worked long shifts around the clock.

But the scale of the building was only one part of the challenge.

The Pentagon could not simply shut down while restoration occurred.

Thousands of employees returned to work shortly after the attack. Essential Department of Defense operations continued while emergency response, investigation, recovery, restoration, and eventually reconstruction were taking place around them.

ServiceMaster crews had to restore the facility without interfering with the Pentagon's mission.

That required an extraordinary level of coordination.

Working Inside One of America's Most Secure Facilities

Restoring any large commercial facility presents logistical challenges. Restoring the Pentagon immediately following a terrorist attack presented challenges few restoration companies had ever encountered.

Security was understandably extraordinary.

Workers underwent federal security screening. Entry and exit were tightly controlled. Movement through portions of the facility required coordination with security personnel.

Even relatively simple restoration activities could require additional authorization and oversight.

The Pentagon also contained classified documents, sensitive information, secure communications systems, and workspaces connected to national defense.

Restoration professionals were there to restore the physical environment—not to access the information contained within it.

Historical accounts describe sensitive materials being protected from view while crews worked in affected areas. Restoration teams had to carefully follow Pentagon security protocols while still performing their work efficiently.

The assignment demanded something beyond technical restoration expertise.

It required trust.

Pentagon officials needed confidence that the people entering these spaces would follow instructions, respect security requirements, protect confidentiality, and understand the extraordinary responsibility that came with working inside the building.

Those expectations sometimes made the restoration process slower or more complicated. But there was never a question about the priority.

The Pentagon's security and mission came first.

The restoration operation had to adapt around it.

The Detailed Work Behind the Recovery

Much of disaster restoration happens in ways the public never sees.

Smoke and soot can travel far beyond the location of a fire, settling onto walls, ceilings, furniture, equipment, fixtures, and electronics. Water used to extinguish a fire can create additional damage throughout adjoining areas.

At the Pentagon, restoration teams worked methodically through affected spaces.

Historical accounts describe technicians performing highly detailed cleaning, including removing soot and contamination from computers and office equipment and disassembling light fixtures so individual components could be cleaned.

These were painstaking tasks repeated across an enormous facility.

At the same time, restoration professionals had to remain conscious that portions of the building were part of an active investigation and recovery operation.

This was not a conventional commercial loss.

Every action required coordination.

Local Response. National Resources.

The Pentagon restoration also demonstrated the importance of combining local leadership with national resources.

ServiceMaster NCR could respond immediately because it was already part of the Washington-area community. But a disaster of this magnitude quickly required resources beyond what any individual restoration company could provide.

The broader ServiceMaster network responded.

Crews, equipment, and supplies arrived from across the country. Professionals who normally responded to disasters within their own communities traveled to Washington to support the Pentagon operation.

For ServiceMaster NCR, it demonstrated a model that remains important today: a local restoration company capable of responding quickly, backed by the resources necessary to scale when a catastrophic loss demands it.

Completing the Restoration Mission

ServiceMaster's restoration and cleanup assignment was completed on November 16, 2001, approximately nine and a half weeks after the attack.

By then, approximately five million square feet of offices, corridors, stairs, and other areas had been brought back online through the broader restoration effort.

ServiceMaster NCR had been there from the beginning and remained through the completion of the restoration assignment.

The structural reconstruction of the section destroyed by the attack was a separate effort known as the Phoenix Project. That project rebuilt approximately 400,000 square feet of damaged space and reached a major milestone in August 2002, shortly before the first anniversary of the attacks.

The distinction is important because the Pentagon's recovery was never the accomplishment of one company or organization.

Firefighters, law enforcement officers, military personnel, investigators, engineers, construction professionals, restoration crews, government employees, and countless others each played a role.

ServiceMaster NCR remains extraordinarily proud to have been one part of that effort.

25 Years Later

A quarter century has now passed since September 11, 2001.

For those who experienced that day, however, certain memories never completely fade.

We remember the 184 people who lost their lives at the Pentagon and the thousands of others killed in New York and Pennsylvania.

We remember the families who have carried those losses for 25 years.

We honor the firefighters, police officers, emergency medical personnel, military members, civilians, and others who ran toward danger when so many others were trying to escape it.

And at ServiceMaster NCR, we remember the restoration professionals who answered an extraordinary call.

Their contribution was different from that of the first responders who saved lives and secured the Pentagon, and we would never equate the two. But when the time came to begin putting the building back together and helping the people inside return to their mission, our team was there.

One Pentagon official later described the significance of the restoration work simply:

"What you did was put life back into the building."

Twenty-five years later, those words still capture what restoration means to us.

The Pentagon assignment was one of the largest and most unusual projects in our company's history. But its lasting importance isn't measured in square footage, equipment, technicians, or hours worked.

It is measured in service.

In showing up when people need help.

In bringing order to chaos.

In helping organizations and communities move forward after circumstances they never expected to face.

ServiceMaster NCR has served the Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, and Maryland region for decades. Today, our teams continue responding to water damage, fire and smoke damage, mold, storms, and catastrophic property losses.

We hope our country never again experiences a tragedy like September 11.

But the lessons our team learned at the Pentagon continue to influence how we approach every restoration project today: respond quickly, respect the people affected, protect what matters to them, adapt to the situation, and stay committed until the job is complete.

On this 25th anniversary, we remember those we lost.

We honor those who responded.

And we remain grateful that, during one of our nation's darkest moments, ServiceMaster NCR had the opportunity to serve.

We will never forget.