On Davidson Avenue, one mile east of Highway 164 and East Main Street intersection

sits the entrance to Hillcrest Park. Home of the now-defunct Nike missile base,

known to the Waukeshaw Wisconsin locals as the old Hillcrest Doom Tower. From 1956 to 1964,

the active site was home to eight Ajax and Hercules missiles that were launched one mile south of

the D-battery. The actual location now overgrown and overrun is still the home of the blast building,

troop quarters, circular water reservoir, and radar tower. If you google Nike battery 74,

you can read all about it. It used to house three US Army units during its years of operation.

And on August 1, 1964, it was designated inactive. There's no documentation as to why this was,

since the Cold War didn't officially end until 1991 after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Since I lived in Elmgrove, a mere 15 minutes away, I decided to see if I could find out any answers

for myself. I visited the Waukeshaw Library to see if there would be any more documentation

on the site aside from what we already posted online. The good thing about actually going to the

library is that very rarely can you find microfiche on the internet. And though it may be tedious,

the farther you dig, the more likely you will come up with something. And that something is exactly

what I found. The photograph dated July 31, 1964, one day before the site was designated inactive.

That one fact caught me as odd. Usually when a site is retired, it is decommissioned, not designated

inactive. The photograph I found was the senior officers and technicians that were assigned to the

site after a bit more digging. I was able to come up with a name. Charles Gunderson, the commanding

officer of the Nike Missile Base. And after a bit more digging and a trip to the public records office,

I discovered that Mr. Gunderson was still alive and living in Waukeshaw by the side of the given

McCall. A tired old voice entered the phone and tried to be as direct as possible.

Charles Gunderson? Yes. Good afternoon. My name is Jonathan Wilcox. I'm a historian for

...