US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s staffers 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.

Axar.az informs, citing the outlet, the incident happened in February after Hegseth said he wanted the globe, mounted in a wooden frame, in his office, the officials said.

The globe was one of at least two that Eisenhower had, the officials said, and it was especially notable because it had green pen or marker notations where Eisenhower marked areas in Europe during World War II.

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

Rather than wait for Army historians or CMH to move the globe, several staffers from Hegseth’s office tried to do so themselves, dropping it, creating a hole in the lower part of it and damaging another area, the officials said.

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

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

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