Photo By Staff Sgt. Javier Alvarez | A dilapidated fence hangs in front of the missile launch and storage area at Nike Site...... read more read more
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Atop the frozen wilderness of Mount Gordon Lyon, past the meandering semi-compacted road which leads past the Arctic Valley ski area, stands a relic of the Cold War.
Once a technological marvel, all that now remains is the gutted and overgrown infrastructure of a Nike Hercules Missile site.
Built at more than 4,000 feet of elevation, Nike Site Summit was one of three launch sites constructed in the Anchorage area, said Jon Scudder, Friends of Nike Site Summit volunteer. One hundred and forty-five Nike Hercules sites would be constructed nationally, strategically placed to fend off potential Soviet attacks.
Appropriately named for the Greek goddess of victory, Nike missiles were the first nuclear capable anti-aircraft missiles, and the answer to the advanced Soviet bombers of the 1950s.
Unlike many other sites, the Anchorage Nike rockets were test-fired annually. From 1960 to 1963 unarmed Nike Hercules missiles soared across the Anchorage skyline at speeds of more than 3,000 miles per hour. Locals would reportedly break from work or pause during the school day to watch the rockets take flight.
Technological improvements and the advent of the intercontinental ballistic missile ultimately led to the Nike missiles’ obsolescence. Sites across the nation closed in the late 1970s, with Site Summit as one of two final locations to close in 1979.
By the mid-1990s, Site Summit was a deteriorating landscape.
To combat further disrepair, the Army proposed a management plan that would have demolished almost half of the site, Scudder said. The demolition would have greatly diminished the ability to use Nike Site Summit to interpret a historic working missile battery of the Cold War era.
Enter FONSS, National Park Service and the Alaska Association for Historic Preservation. With support from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, these different agencies began working to stabilize and restore parts of the site in 2010.
“We want to make it look the way that it did in 1976,” said Ivan Hodes, FONSS deputy director. “That’s our goal, that’s our mission.”
Annually, FONSS offers five tour days in the summer months. Tours are open to the public. At 40 dollars per person, 35 with a military discount, the cost covers transportation expenses.
On September 9, McKinley Heights High School students were the first public school students to attend one of the site tours.
“Part of the 6th grade curriculum in the Alaska School District is 20th century history, which includes a unit on the cold war,” Hodes said. “What I’ve been trying to do is get 6th grade classes up here. Especially those on JBER, as a way of connecting the curriculum to their own heritage and their own lives as military members on this base. Our other goal is acquiring a missile. That’s another priority.”
Largely through voluntary efforts, the site continues to morph into a version from days past. Not just the buildings, but some of the regular volunteers on site were stationed at Site Summit when it was operational.
“There’s always something to do,” Hodes said. “Painting the exterior [of buildings] is an ongoing process because of the harsh Alaska weather. We’ve painted all the sentry stations and they are already in need of a fresh coat.”
“I was sort of the last generation of cold war kids,” Hodes said. “I was 7 years old when the [Berlin] wall came down; 9 years old when the USSR collapsed. So I have childhood memories growing up under this threat of nuclear annihilation. I remember that fear from my childhood, but the kids that just went on this tour, the kids who were maybe born in 1999 or 2000, that’s something they don’t have to fear.”
As the alpenglow radiates from the Chugach State Park, nearly 100 million years since the mountain range was formed and nearly 59 years since the site was commissioned, volunteers work tirelessly to ensure Nike Site Summit remains.
To participate in a Nike Site Summit tour for the 2018 season visit, http://www.nikesitesummit.net
| Date Taken: | 09.20.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 09.20.2017 18:39 |
| Story ID: | 249028 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, AK, US |
| Web Views: | 175 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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