THE COLD WAR – in a warm State

Made an unexpected tour this week, after travelling across South Florida to the other side of the Everglades National Park. after a great week in Everglades City.  Drove to east side of the Park from our Travel Lodge in the midst of Any Street America in Florida City – anyone who has been to visit or lives in the US knows this lot – Wendys, MacD’s, Dennys, Red Lobster, Walgreens, Walmart, gas stations, liquor stores and drive-in banks, same chain motels, etc.  Pretty depressing really that they are still the same from our last visit 10, 20 and 30 years ago – and a lot of the restaurants still amazingly with the same decor/layout – rows of formica tables and hard chairs.    Possibly even the same as in the 1960's - see below.

 THE NIKE MISSILE TOUR 

(the text being nicked from the web + some of the photos)

The Everglades National Park houses one of the best preserved relics of the Cold War in Florida. An historic Nike Hercules Missile Site, called Alpha Battery or HM-69, remains virtually the same as it was when official use of the site was terminated in 1979.

Aerial View of Nike Missile Base Launch Area

A Relic of The Cold War

This missile base was built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, completed in 1964 at the height of the Cold War, immediately following the Cuban Missile Crisis of October, 1962. At a time when national security against Soviet attack was America's main priority, the United States Army chose this strategic site within Everglades National Park, located 160 miles from the Cuban coast, to build an anti-aircraft missile site.  (Ooops! - all the US defences were in the North expecting attacks up and over the Arctic - when suddenly Florida became very close to a real threat from Cuba - 90 miles away.  Doh!)

An Historic Site

The base was listed on the U.S. Department of the Interior's National Register of Historic Places on July 27, 2004 as an historic district. The area includes 22 buildings and structures associated with events that have made a significant contribution to American history. Some of the extant structures include three missile barns, a missile assembly building, a guard dog kennel, barracks and a number of other features.

This base was part of a larger missile defense system built in South Florida in response to the Cuban Missile Crisis. There were four Nike Hercules missile sites; B Battery in north Key Largo (now Key Largo Hammocks State Park), C Battery in Miramar, D Battery that is now the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Krome Detention Center, and A Battery located in Everglades National Park.

 
Nike Hercules Missiles on missile launcher in South Florida.

HM-69 was also highly significant because of the technologies employed. The South Florida missile defenses were integrated with HAWK missile sites to provide an all-altitude defense capability around South Florida.

Approximately 140 crew operated the three aboveground missile barns and guarded against attacks from Cuban air strikes. The personnel of Battery A received a meritorious unit commendation from President John F. Kennedy, which was one of the few times the award was presented for a Cold War deterrence mission.




The tour was narrated by a retired ex-army guy who was fascinating and all these areas we went to with him and saw the bits of rockets now in place.

He was a typical American retiree, of the kind we met many years ago, – sold his house 9 years ago and now spends his time 6 months in Florida in winter and 6 months in Yellowstone NP in summer.  They get free parking for their huge RV coach (their only home) and earn a few dollars along the way. 


These are the types of RVs – and they tow big 4WDs (the cars are bigger than your campervan, Dave/Carole!!) + canoes + bikes in some cases.


The NP’s love the retirees, as they are reliable staff for Ranger duties and shop assistants – much better than irresponsible students, who only party the nights away and come to work with hangovers, if at all.  There is even a directory  (CoolWorks.com or similar) which has all the vacancies in the NP’s and State Parks – a complete way of life for many Americans tracking the good weather, all year round. Anyone want to join us?

The living history talk really brought back the anxiety that was felt (if didn’t quite understand as children) in the early ‘60’s and it highlighted how the missiles and lots of the buttons (and possible decisions) were in the hands of 22-28 year old soldiers manning these weapon sites.  Scarey!

Anyway – the tour made a change to ‘Gators, birds and ecosystems!  Think we are on our 5th Everglades Visitor Centre now.