Letter: The nuclear missile base by the Queens beach club
A Nike-Ajax missile rises from a pit at launch site in Brookville during an open house in 1960. The site closed a few years later. Credit: Newsday / Dick Kraus
Defending America by the beach club
I enjoyed reading “LI, NYC on the Cold War front lines” [Opinion, April 28].
From 1968 to 1972, I served on Nike nuclear bases in the New York area. I also served in South Korea in 1971, where I maintained Nike missile guidance control systems.
I couldn’t help smiling after reading references to “locals” at the beach at Fort Tilden. A chain-link fence separated our powerful radars and a Breezy Point beach club.
From the comforts of the cabana, members would watch as soldiers worked on odd-looking equipment, probably wondering why and what we were all about.
Man, if they only knew those 24 large missiles underground could be armed with nuclear warheads.
Walter “Butch” Anderson, Bay Shore
