Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Cold War in the Everglades

Soon after the Cuban missile crisis, nuclear weapons were brought to the Everglades area to try to explode any missiles that might come from Cuba. In the middle of the National Park, a small area was fenced in with all sorts of security.



Inside three barns were stored several Nike Missiles. The plan was that these would be pulled out quickly and launched at incoming missiles.

In the meantime, the soldiers living here were sleeping in tents with mosquitoes and the hot summer temperatures. The story is that they were allowed one shower a week when they traveled to a local military base. This was not an easy posting. 

Some of the men did some murals to while away their time here. To me, “Mothership” reminds me of the movie “Independence Day”. I wonder what the meaning was to men in the 60’s and 70’s?

The volunteer who gave this tour was very knowledgeable. It was an unexpected tour for the Everglades, but very good.

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