In early March, more than 500 workers assigned to the rebuilding of the Pentagon--known as the Phoenix Project--completed pouring concrete for the "E-Ring" outer wall along the building's fifth and final floor.

"Most people know of our commitment to have tenants back in the building on the E Ring where the [terrorist] aircraft hit by September 11th of this year," said Walker Lee Evey, the project's manager for the Department of Defense.

A large digital clock has been erected on the job site to signal the days, hours, and minutes remaining to the exact time of the one-year anniversary of the attack on the Pentagon--9:38 a.m., 11 September. It is labeled simply: Let's Roll.

The project's civil engineers and managers arrive at the Pentagon at 3:30 a.m. to finalize each day's plans so construction teams can continue the rebuilding just as soon as they arrive two hours later to begin a two-shift, 20-hour work day--six days a week.

During the first three months following 9/11, workers were on the job 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Concerned that the fast pace and sometimes dangerous work might result in injuries, supervisors ordered a two-day break at Christmas. A delegation of 64 workers complained and asked to be allowed to work straight through, but managers insisted that they take two days off at Christmas and New Year's before shifting to the six-day workweek.

On 11 March, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld welcomed to the Pentagon representatives from 29 nations that are participating in Operation Enduring Freedom or supporting the war on terrorism in other ways. "The attacks of September 11th were clearly a terrible tragedy," Rumsfeld said " ... Our nation grieves for those who were lost, and our hearts go out to their families--those in New York, in Pennsylvania, and, yes, those of our friends and colleagues here at the Pentagon. But, from the ashes, hope springs."

Across the Potomac River at the White House on that same day, President Bush spoke to a gathering of 1,000 people. While mourning the loss of more than 3,000 victims in the terrorist attacks, Bush also reaffirmed the strong U.S.-led international coalition's commitment to victory in the war on terrorism. The president also thanked the member nations of that coalition for their support. "More dangers and sacrifice lie ahead, yet America is prepared," Bush said. "Our resolve has only grown, because we remember."

More than 11,000 miles away, meanwhile, U.S. and coalition soldiers, special operations forces, and Afghan forces working with the coalition suffered a number of additional killed and wounded during peacekeeping operations, including the particularly fierce fighting against al Qaeda forces during Operation Anaconda in eastern Afghanistan. Seven U.S. service members were killed in action on 4 March: four Army soldiers, two Air Force forward air controllers, and one Navy SEAL--Petty Officer 1st Class Neil Roberts. Hundreds of al Qaeda terrorists were reported to have been killed during the fighting.

In Virginia, a family friend said Roberts was "a loving husband and father, a loving son and brother, a true friend and warrior who never once questioned his commitment to his family or his country." In a letter to his wife, Roberts wrote that he loved being a Navy SEAL. "If I died doing something for the Teams, then I died doing what made me happy," he said.

Additional soldiers--of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division and 10th Mountain Division--later were wounded during the continued bitter fighting in the same operation. One, Sgt. Major Frank Grippe, was struck by 10 pieces of shrapnel when an al Qaeda mortar round exploded near his position. Later, during a phone interview from Afghanistan, he told Pentagon reporters that he had refused doctors' recommendations to be medically evacuated. "I just have to get healed up enough ... so I can get up in the mountains with my men," he said.

Another U.S. soldier, Sgt. First Class Robert Healey, was wounded in the same engagement. Healey said that he had watched the attacks of 11 September on television at Fort Drum, N.Y., and that he and his comrades were well prepared for their combat missions in the war on terrorism. "We knew we were going to be called up and go into combat to rid the world of this evil," he said. "And all the boys are ready to do that. We're doing it right now, and nobody has any regrets."