Hegseth staff damaged historic World War II Eisenhower globe while trying to move it around his office

Staffers of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth damaged a historic globe used by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II when they tried to move it to his office at his request, three U.S. officials confirmed to NBC News.

The incident occurred in February after Hegseth said he wanted the globe, mounted in a wooden frame, in his office, officials said.

The Washington Post first reported the incident Thursday.

The globe was one of at least two that Eisenhower owned, officials said, and was particularly notable because it bore annotations in green pen or marker where Eisenhower marked areas in Europe during World War II.

The American historical artifact is cataloged and preserved by the U.S. Army Center of Military History (CMH), but on display at the Pentagon. The globe was kept in a senior Army office at the Pentagon, the officials said.

Rather than wait for Army or CMH historians to move the globe, several members of Hegseth’s office attempted to do it themselves, dropping it, creating a hole in the bottom and damaging another area, officials said.

A Pentagon official acknowledged the incident but said the globe was a aftershock.

“An accident occurred while staff were transporting a replica of Eisenhower’s globe as part of their move. Accidents happen, we are grateful no one was injured and the globe is being repaired,” the Pentagon official said.

NBC News verified with the three officials and a photo that it was not a replica, but the original globe used by Eisenhower.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a new request for information about the globe.

Eisenhower was the supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces during World War II, ultimately responsible for crucial decisions like the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944.

He gave final approval for the landings, part of Operation Overlord, which led to the liberation of Western Europe and the end of Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany.

Eisenhower was elected the 34th president in November 1952 and was sworn in the following January.

A company that moved a similar Eisenhower globe to Alabama in December 2022, Craters & Freighters, described what it took to safely transport the artifact when it was hired to do so by CMH.

This globe measured 4 feet tall and had a diameter of approximately 40 inches, and the company said it created “precise packaging and crating designs” to keep it safe.