Saved Round - The Colors of Resolve - Marine Corps Association

Saved Round – The Colors of Resolve

By: Kayla Workman
Posted on August 14, 2026

For some people, Sept. 11, 2001, has become a blur of distant news footage and historical footnotes. But for the Marines who stood in the dust of the Pentagon’s west wing after the attack, it wasn’t history yet, it was simply the visceral present.

Amidst the jagged steel and the hollowed-out offices, the wreckage of the Pentagon felt like the end of the world. Yet, in that landscape of gray concrete, a splash of scarlet and gold emerged from the debris. Hanging steady on the edge of a fourth-floor office, cleaved in two by the impact of Flight 77, was a Marine Corps flag.

It shouldn’t have survived. It was perched on the precipice of a gaping hole, yet it remained completely unscathed.

A quiet, defiant pulse of color in the heart of the tragedy.

When then-Major Dan Pantaleo rushed to the Pentagon to provide aid, he retrieved the Marine

Corps flag alongside Lieutenant Colonel M.L. “Buzz” Hefti, USMC (Ret), then-Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs, and fellow recovery workers. They weren’t just recovering a piece of fabric; they were reclaiming a piece of resolve. That flag had stood watch behind the desk of Peter Murphy, the Commandant’s senior legal advisor. Murphy, who was in that office when the airplane hit, had survived the blast and was back to work the very next day, determined that the law wouldn’t be intimidated by terror. That flag didn’t just sit in a box after being pulled from the rubble; it went on to travel to Afghanistan, visited space on the shuttle Endeavour and now rests at the National Museum of the Marine Corps as a silent witness. Looking at that image (top) you can see the exhaustion in the eyes of the Marines, the heavy weight of their yellow gloves and the stark contrast of the unblemished scarlet cloth against the carnage of the Pentagon. That moment captured a transition in our nation: the shock of the attack giving way to the steely-eyed response of the Marine Corps. We look back now at the 25th anniversary, but that flag? It’s still standing guard. It reminds us that the ethos of the Corps and the spirit of this nation remain as unshakable as that scarlet and gold flag unfurled in the wreckage.

Featured Photo (Top): John Monaccio Photographs, 2010-1089, Marine Corps Archives and Special Collections, Gray Research Center, Quantico, Va

About the Author

Kayla Workman is the editorial assistant for Leatherneck and a graduate student at the University of Alabama specializing in archival studies. She previously earned her bachelor’s degree in historic preservation from the University of Mary Washington.