The Pentagon 3,460 recipients of the Medal of Honor, the United States' highest military decoration. The Hall is also used for promotions, retirements, and other ceremonies. Notes Bibliography The Pentagon The Pentagon, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase "The Pentagon" is often used as a metonym for the Department of Defense and its leadership. The building was designed by American architect George Bergstrom and built by contractor John McShain. Ground was broken on September 11, 1941, and the
Construction of the Virginia approaches to Arlington Memorial Bridge of Virginia a wide easement for a new, wide road extending from the cemetery's south boundary northwest to Columbia Island. In October 1940, Congress passed legislation authorizing the War Department to purchase Washington-Hoover Airport This legislation, however, provided formal approval of the roadway easement for construction of a second Arlington Memorial Bridge approach. An unnamed sourced suggested in February 1941 that a portion of Boundary Channel near the under-construction Pentagon be filled in so that the new road did not have to use a bridge to connect to the George Washington Memorial Parkway and Arlington Memorial Bridge. The CFA asked