My son's Boy Scout Troop went to Cape Henlopen, DE this past weekend (11/7 - 11/9). While they were there, they learned about Fort Miles, in Delaware. This is a good story, which was perfectly on time for Veterans' Day. Both of my grandfathers were WWII vets. They would've been proud of this.

Please say "Thank you" to a veteran.

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At Fort Miles, the word was sacrifice
Visitors learn how coast defenders lived, worked
By JEFF MONTGOMERY • The News Journal • November 9, 2008
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200811090345/NE...

Deep inside a dimly lit coastal artillery bunker near Lewes, veteran Cliff Kepner of New Jersey broke away from a tour to speak the word he hoped every visitor would carry away from a Veterans Day weekend event at Fort Miles Historic Area.

"Sacrifice," said Kepner, who was spending the weekend helping to supervise a New Jersey Scout troop camp out at adjoining Cape Henlopen State Park.

"Everyone in the service has sacrificed, whether they're in a combat unit or not," said Kepner, who served in Vietnam. "The guy who hands out the uniforms, the guy who makes sure the food and fuel are there, the medics. Those who are behind also sacrifice, not just those in combat."

Fitting words inside the 10-foot thick walls of buried coastal defense Battery 519, opened to the public Saturday during a series of re-enactments and tours at Fort Miles to mark the approach of Veterans Day on Tuesday.

Thousands of Army troops and later Navy sailors toiled to build and then man the defenses at Fort Miles during and after World War II -- enduring spartan conditions but never firing the fort's big 12- and 16-inch guns in sustained action against enemy targets.

Milford resident Bob Savage, who worked as an Army cook and reserve soldier at Fort Miles at various times in the 1970s and 1980s, said he supports efforts to restore and open the site.

"I've said since I got out of the military that this should have been a military museum a long time ago," Savage said.

"It's important for people to see just what the men lived through to ensure the safety of the convoys," Savage said. "I hope especially that this gives young people a better understanding of what people have put up with, what people have done, to ensure their freedom."

The battery is part of a wider complex that includes the landmark concrete fire control towers that spotters used to direct fire from the fort.

Eleven towers dot the shoreline in Delaware and the southern tip of New Jersey, and were used in pairs to fix the location and distance to a target.

Much of the original fort, now state-owned, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in April 2005. A volunteer group, the Fort Miles Historical Association, is working to restore portions of the site to their original condition, including the 400-foot-long Battery 519, buried in dunes at the highest point in the park.

Pete Gisler, a veteran who now lives in Long Neck, toured the battery with his son and two grandchildren Saturday,

"I want them to know about the Army, and to know that there was a war and that this was a part of it," said Gisler, who served as a jet mechanic in Texas during the 1950s.

Joe Kosaveach, a Navy communications technician from 1955 to 1963, including time aboard a destroyer escort, said people need to be reminded about how close to home the war came.

"The people never knew whether a big battle cruiser or one of those big guys was going to come over the horizon right out there," Kosaveach said. "The way school is nowadays, it's like two paragraphs on World War II. Some people don't have a clue."

A hundred yards from the bunker, World War II re-enactor Robert Kennedy chatted in a chilly drizzle with an 87-year-old veteran sporting a commemorative Navy cap.

"I wish that I could see more people out here for this," said William Williams, who identified himself as a pilot who served in the Pacific during the war with Japan.

Jersey Shore Scout Leader Don Bayconich said his troop observes every Veterans Day, often visiting cemeteries to mark with flags the graves of those who served.

"A lot of them look at the markers and ask questions. Some of the graves are for soldiers from the Civil War," Bayconich said. "We always have the new Scouts visit one for a veteran from the old Army Air Corps, and that always leads to questions because so many kids these days think there always was an Air Force. But there's a lot more to history."

And more ahead, Kepner pointed out.

Some former Scouts in the Jersey Shore troop have gone on to enlist and serve tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Sacrifice for your country is important," Kepner said. "Service means something."

Contact Jeff Montgomery at 678-4277 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com.

Fort Miles State Park http://www.destateparks.com/chsp/FortMiles.asp
Fort Miles Historical Association http://www.fortmilesha.org/