The Pentagon Response Series
Rare footage from inside the Pentagon emergency response, witnessed, recorded, and preserved by the only civilian camera crew on site.
On September 11, 2001, video producer Jude Coke and her two-person crew were granted exclusive access to the Pentagon as embedded documentarians for the Arlington County Fire Department. For three days, they were the only civilian camera crew allowed on site, outside and inside the building, capturing the emergency response as it unfolded in real time. Much of what they recorded has never been seen outside the emergency responder training community.
We remember so they never forget.
The Footage
Each video in this series draws from raw footage recorded September 11–13, 2001, at the Pentagon. Released monthly, April through September 2026, these clips offer a firsthand look at the courage, coordination, and humanity of those who responded.
About the Series
Jude Coke arrived on the East Coast on September 10, 2001, for what was supposed to be a routine documentary shoot for a firefighter training company. Within hours of the attacks, she and her crew made their way toward Washington, D.C., following a convoy of mobilizing firefighters through gridlocked traffic. Through a combination of professional credibility and the instincts of her crew, they gained permission to enter the Pentagon grounds alongside emergency responders.
Their designation as documentarians for the Arlington County Fire Department gave them access no other civilian crew had, including entry into the Pentagon itself to follow an urban search and rescue team. They recorded continuously: sector commanders directing the response, President George Bush’s site visit from two angles, a brief interview with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and the retrieval of a Marine Corps flag from the fourth floor impact zone that would go on to travel aboard a NASA Space Shuttle and now resides permanently at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
When Jude later discovered that her former employer had accidentally discarded the original footage in a corporate cleanout, she realized she held the only surviving copies. It has been her mission ever since to ensure this record is honorably preserved and returned to the institutions and communities it belongs to. The 9/11 Legacy Foundation is proud to be part of that mission.
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