Nike Army Base on Vashon

Childhood Memories by Lisa Devereau - reminding us that our American Military Families embrace and promote a culture that cherishes family, as well as country.

Monday, May 29th, 2023

Dear Vashon Loop Readers and Substack Subscribers,

Recently, I spoke with a Vietnam Vet about the idea of sharing thoughts and ideas related to his service with our island community. He responded by saying that many veterans only feel comfortable discussing their military experiences with those who can truly understand. This surprised me, as my grandfather made a point of sharing his WWII experiences (he was shot down over Germany and spent two years in a POW Camp) with us grandkids. But, that was WWII.

It makes sense, to me, that Vietnam Veterans may feel differently. They came home to an entirely different America. Unlike WWII, we lost “the war” in Vietnam. Many of our vets had been drafted unwillingly into the war - whereas my grandfather had volunteered. Of course, Americans (especially young Americans) were of mixed opinions regarding Vietnam, and our veterans suffered as a result.

And then there were the Korean War Veterans. One of my childhood memories was watching a funny show with a bunch of people in green uniforms (I was seven) called M*A*S*H*. Later, when I watched it again, it became clear that our country’s sense of confidence about how the Korean War was fought also suffered from mixed emotions. Doubt. Concern. Uncertainty.

Today, I fear many Americans have forgotten that our nation is also filled with men and women who are veterans of the Iraq Wars. According to NPR’s Scott Neuman and Larry Kaplow, after “eight years of boots on the ground, the U.S. lost some 4,600 U.S. service members, and at least 270,000 Iraqis, mostly civilians, were killed.” Consider the emotional impact of those statistics upon our fellow Americans who volunteered to protect our nation?

Of course, many more American Soldiers were injured or suffer from strange illnesses related to vaccine experimentation on our own troops or chemical weapons encountered abroad. There is, of course, also the issue of depleted uranium, and the list goes on. War is messy. Raising the question - as Lisa Devereau does in the very beginning of her article - “Do We Want to Forget Our Military History?”

Clearly, our view at The Vashon Loop is a resounding “No.” To do so is to increase the harms caused by war, not lessen them. Ignorance only increases the likelihood of future wars. We gain nothing - and lose much - from ignoring those who signed up to potentially sacrifice their lives, out of a wish to do good. And, with an average of 125,000 American Soldiers on active duty (boots on the ground) in Iraq, during those eight years, we have a lot of people who put their life on the line during those years…and the decade since!

According to William A. Galston, “Afghanistan veterans number about 775,000, many with multiple tours of duty. They are angry about the withdrawal, 73% feel betrayed, and 67% feel humiliated.” He goes on to discuss the results of a survey conducted by the organization, More in Common. According to their survey, “Two-thirds of all Americans, and more than 7 in 10 veterans, believe that “Veterans of the war in Afghanistan are going to have a hard time processing the end of the war,” and 56% of veterans do not believe that “American society will move on quickly from the end of the war.”

Why might this be true? Perhaps because, “Seventy-six percent of Afghanistan veterans say that they sometimes feel “like a stranger in my own country.” Which makes sense, given that “only one-third of Americans report belonging to social circles that include any of these veterans.”

People who choose to remember war - and those who were caught up in it - do so because history serves us in many ways. It is our story, our memories, our learning curve and our evidence for what does or does not work out well. Our fellow Americans, who served in each war, can offer us the best insights through their first hand accounts of what happened, on the ground, in the villages, on ships, in the air, and strategy rooms.

These hard and painful memories remind us of the consequences of war.

What might happen in the future, if we were to forget the lessons learned by the Thalidomide disaster of the last century? What happens if we forget, or deny, the close relationships between American, British and German Eugenicists leading up to WWII? What will happen, if we do not apply a nuanced perspective and well-informed basis of knowledge grounded in real world experiences to the incredibly complex and heavily manipulated crisis in Ukraine, today?

This article was on the front page of our May Issue. You can visit our website to see additional photos (mentioned below in the article). Including, Santa in a helicopter!

Nike Army Base on Vashon, Childhood Memories

by Lisa Devereau

Hello, my name is Lisa Devereau. I am a cemetery commissioner and a funeral director. I grew up here on Vashon, and have a story about growing up here.

A few years ago, a woman named Verna Bacon Everitt moved back to Vashon. She had hopes of writing for our local newspaper, so she wrote and submitted a short story about the Nike Missile base – it was rejected. The reason given was that Vashon residents did not want to remember our part in any war or military efforts. (This was not our current newspaper staff.) Do we really want to forget our history?

I for one do not. Forgetting the Nike site would mean forgetting a large part of my childhood. My father was stationed at the Nike site in 1958. He met and married my mother that same year, and became dad to her two girls. They moved into a home in Nike Manor (a military housing project, now privately owned). Just prior to my birth in 1962, they purchased our family home on Cemetery Road. While living basically on base, my family met many wonderful neighbors, many of whom we are still friends with, if not relatives of, today.

My father was not the only soldier who met and married here. Others include Russell Bruce, who married Laurie Wolcott; Henry Garcia, who married Barbara Mitchell; Bobby Lewis, who married Betty Brenno; Ken Cooper, who married Barbara Brenno; Bill Thomas, who married Andrea Crawford; Joe Bacon, who married Dorothy Rolando; Ray Squires, who married Judy Anderson; Barret Allred, who married Rhodila Grimm; and Terry Alman, who married Teri Phaneuf. This list, I am sure, could go on and on. And from this list comes all the Nike children, of which I am one, and I would guess so are many of you.

The United States Army began developing the next generation of Nike missile – Hercules – in 1953, the same year that Nike Ajax became operational. The Army named the missile for one of the most celebrated heroes of classical mythology, a figure renowned for strength and endurance.

In 1958, the Army began replacing Nike Ajax missiles with Nike Hercules. An “improved Nike Hercules” system became operational in 1961. There were Nike Missile sites all over the US, with many in the state of Washington.

This article’s picture shows Battery B, 4th Missile Battalion (Nike Hercules). It is dated July 19, 1962, and was taken at what is now Sunrise Ridge and the Vashon Medical Clinic. I can only name a few of these men; I wish we could name them all. The web version of this article has two photos, also taken at Sunrise Ridge; one clearly shows the old missile silos, that I called golf balls as a child, and the buildings surrounding them are still in use today. My Dad was Santa Claus that year, and actually landed in a helicopter in our cow field to surprise us girls. I have been told that I hid from him.

The photo of my Dad in uniform shows the now-Vashon Medical Clinic building in October of 1964; it was a barracks at that time. Other buildings at that site were a sentry guardhouse along the driveway, a mess hall, sewage facilities, many storage areas, and a canine kennel area, to name a few. There were multiple military sites on Vashon beside Sunrise Ridge, including the property and building that is now the Eagles; the horse park, now called Paradise Ridge; and a building in Dockton, which I believe was a generator building.

I loved going on base with my dad, and remember stopping at the sentry guardhouse and getting candy from the mess hall; I still have a couple of dishes from there.

We also have pictures of Terry Alman training a canine; I always loved seeing the beautiful dogs, but was not allowed near them. I remember egg hunts at what is now the Eagles, and pancakes in the mess hall. In kindergarten, I took a model of the Hercules or Ajax missile to school for show and tell. That would be a treasure to own now, but Dad let us play with them and they did not last.

My Dad retired in 1966, after 20 years. In school, new students came and went, as their fathers were relocated to other bases, and in the early 1970s, the base was decommissioned and the properties were left vacant for a while. Now we have parks, ball fields, a clinic, and the previous home of Granny's Attic. The housing project became private homes, and clubs took over some of the properties.

The 216th road from Vashon Highway to 111th became the “off limits road” after a jeep accident left a few soldiers badly injured; they were now required to drive the long way around. I still refer to 216th as the off-limits road, but enjoy its twists and turns.

Another favorite memory is soldiers visiting our home, whether it was for a meal or to get some home brew (a secret room-under-the-stairs brewery), or to hold my baby doll, of which I understand a certain few had the honor. Their visits were always fun.

This story is my own, and my memories may be a bit off since I was so young, but let’s add to this so our story doesn’t get lost and our history is preserved. I appreciate all who have served, including my father, his three brothers, and my husband John, my brothers-in-law Harold and Joe, and my father-in-law Doug, as well as our beloved Robert Bennedsen. So, let’s remember this year that Armed Forces Day (May 23) and Memorial Day (May 29) are about those who gave all.