Three weeks from today we will be awakening in the heart of orange-groved
Florida. As we count down our days remaining here in southern Florida we
decided to go a ranger-guided tour of the now decommissioned Battery A Hercules
Missile site in the Everglades, just outside of Homestead. On our way through this most eastern area of
the Everglades the temperature was in the low 80s with a nice cool breeze,
crayon-color blue skies with cotton candy clouds.
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| HM-69 |
The missile site is now operated by the National Parks Service and was
the last fixed air defense missile system to remain in operation until it was
ordered to stand down in 1979. There were four additional missile sites
operating in southern Florida as part of a larger air defense system and at one
time there were 248 missile sites strategically placed throughout the country. This site, surrounded by swamp and grasslands,
originally had 22 buildings and housed 145 service personnel. It is a reminder
of the 13-day standoff between the then world powers of Kennedy, Khruschev and
Castro during the early 1960s and the involvement of our country and Russia in
the Bay of Pigs crisis with Cuba. The Hercules’
were intended to intercept missiles in the event there were any fired from
Cuba. The good news is that no one made the ultimate decision to set off a
missile in protection of our country or perceived threats.
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| Missile Barn |
Of the original buildings the remaining intact structures include a
missile assembly building, three missile shelters, barracks and a guard dog
kennel. A restored Nike-Hercules missile is on display at the site. The HM-69
launch site consisted of three above-ground launch units, each with four
missiles, some of the missiles were armed with nuclear warheads. Above-ground
units were required in the Everglades due to the high water table. The missiles, about forty-one feet long and weighing
close to five tons, were capable of traveling up to mach 3 if launched. This
site was our first line of defense against the threats of Russian missile bases
that had been installed just 90 miles south on the island of Cuba. The
personnel of Battery A received a meritorious unit commendation from President
Kennedy, which was one of the few times the award was presented for a Cold War
deterrence mission.
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| Re-contructed Hercules Missile on display |
The park ranger presented a reader’s digest condensed version of the
build-up of the necessity of the missile sites and insights shared with those veterans
who had been stationed at this post. Even though Florida has become a tourist
mecca, in the late 50s early 1960s this part of Florida was still pretty much
wilderness with alligators, crocodiles, panthers, poisonous snakes and
mosquitoes, the size of pigeons, which the Army personnel had to contend and
live with. Barracks were primitive
settings of olive green canvas tents sans air conditioning. It is, in all
likelihood, that uniforms were heavy wool and not blended cotton that would
have been light weight and cooler to wear.
The soldiers and technicians, housed
in the glades, were close in distance, but yet so far in their respective
duties. The highly restricted base was no doubt in perpetual high alert and the
troops lived with the knowledge that they would receive little, if no warning,
of an impending attack. A mere fifteen minutes was the timeframe to
sufficiently launch a missile from the time of radar sensing to the manning of
the launchers. If the “Battle Stations” alarm was issued, the soldiers
responsible for launching the missiles went into a small room in a bunker and
waited. They would listen for the radio
communication and the order that would have probably incited World War III. That
order was never announced. And now, in this gladed wilderness one cannot help
but be moved by the eerie silence as the breeze dances through the sawgrass and
at the same time the nearness of the fate of one decision that would have
affected our country and the world forever.
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