Reconstruction eras. American history tv this weekend every weekend on cspan three. Each week, american artifact visits museums, archives, and historic places. Up next, we travel about 45 miles west of the Nations Capital to tour a u. S. Army can indications base in warrenton, virginia, which now houses a Museum Dedicated to remembering the cold war. Is is just under an hour. Welcome, my name is francie Francis Gary Powers junior, i go by gary, i am the founder of the Cold War Museum at vince hill virginia, about 45 miles northwest of washington dc. I founded the Cold War Museum in 1996, to honor cold war veterans, preserve cold war history, and educate future generations about this time period. What i realized when i was giving lectures to High School Students in this area, nine times out of 10, the students would not know anything about the cold war or the u2 incident. They would think the u2 incident would have something to do do with the rock band. A the cold war period. In 1996 we founded the Cold War Museum which opened here at vint hill farms station, a former Army Communications base near the washington area. It used to be used by nsa, cia, asa and other groups to monitor communications around the washington, d. C. Embassy region and International Signals they were able to pick up from the atmosphere. So im going to take you on a tour today of the Cold War Museum. What is the cold war . The cold war was a time period 46 years between 1945, december 26th, 1981 with the collapse of the soviet union. It was a geopolitical standoff between the soviets and the americans. Each one a super power could have destroyed the world through a nuclear war. But the cold war prevented that. It was mad mutually assured destruction if one side or the other side threw out atomic bombs. There would be no winners. So this cold war was a state of heightened tension that did not have direct military conflict between the soviets and americans. Vint hill farms station was functional between world war ii and the mid90s. In december of 91 the American Government realized there was no need for this facility because there was no more soviet union. The cold war had ended. That as well as with an act called base Realignment Enclosure act. And in the mid90s lots of military bases were shot down plus we didnt need as many facilities to monitor the soviet union since it didnt exist. It was closed in the mid90s, sat vacant for about ten years, we found out this was available. We pitched the idea to the vint hill Economic Authority and they said yes we want to talk about negotiating here and we opened in 2011 here at this facility. Step this way. With a little over view of vint hill farm station and behind this mannequin is one of the original signs from vint hill farm stations talking about the Communication Base and that it was monitoring station number one. So in this room here we have items similar to the type that would have been used by the military members and the Agency Members who are monitoring the traffic communications. So there are different radio receivers, transmitters, morse code resepperceptors even some original photos of the barn that i can walk you through right here. Back in world war ii or the cold war era women as well as men were serving here as radio operators and receivers. It gives a very good history of the womans role in the military at the time. Aevlg from helping to defend our nation to what they do today, flying the planes and doing everything else. Right down here is the barn complex. Prior to it becoming a listening post, and the story goes that the farmer who owned this farm was a ham radio operator. And he would pick up German Communications and Japanese Communications and italian Taxi Communications broadcasting on this ham radio. So he invited one of his friends over who was in the military, a general at the pentagon. The general was astounded that you could listen to these foreign broadcasts here at this location. So they did some surveys and found out that the top graphical area, the granite, the composition of the soil was such its a natural receiver. So signals around the world would be funneled here and could be listened to if they had the right devices. So the pentagon ended up buying the farm from the farmer, the farmer went and retired and it farm was turn into the vint hill farm station with squuz an active Communications Center from world war ii, up through the mid90s after the cold war. Heres a picture of what it looked like and we are basically in this building right now. And then we have more photos of what the barns look like. So then once the listening post was active it turned into a military base and it was called vint hill farm station. This was a sportsman club, one of the original patches that we have from that era. Heres a photograph of the fields with some of the attena you can see, some of the people looking at the different equipment and or teletyping what theyre doing. Some of the original radio equipment similar to what we have inside on display. And more information over here of their radio antennas, the farm, the military personnel stationed here, the chow line, and this is good photo of them here working and listening to the radios, intercepting and taking down notes as to what was being broadcast. Over here nice picture of the people working intercepting the Radio Communications and this a nice picture of what the barn looked like with all the receivers and the men and women stationed there intercepting the radio broadcasts. Now, in addition, while were in this room a different assortment of uniforms we have in our collection, some are from world war ii, so from the cold war era. This is an original coat rack from the Civil Defense headquarters in washington, d. C. So almost everything in here is original to one extent or another that deals with the cold war. Recently this book came out called code girls. And this talks about what the women in the military and agencies did here at this site during world war ii and the cold war to monitor and intercept the Radio Communications. Then again right here as we start to exit you can see what the vint hill base looked like back in the 50s, and it was sigint, stands for signals intelligence. And it was intercepting the signals from the air. These are the type of antenna raies that were on site picking up a variety of signals around the world as well as the Embassy Communication from washington, d. C. And in world war ii when they first started using this facility as a listening post, they were listening to german, japanese and italian frequencies. Some would be cab dispatchers. Some would be military communications. Some would be normal Radio Communications to see what they were telling the public at the time. There was a variety of different signals they were intercepting primarily to determine what channels were worth listening to that could be a military strengthen and advantage. They would listen to the broadcasts and when they found one that was important they would transcribe it. They would not transcribe every bit of information that came across, only that that was crucial to the wartime effort. The next room here on display its all about east germany, west germany, the iron curtain, the military Liaison Mission that was stationed in germany. It was a trench mission, a russian mission, a British Mission and an american mission. What we had here was an original license plate from one of the american missions, the cars that would go and do a little espionage activity, original piece of barb wire from the hungarian border. An original sign that basically said halt, prohibited, you cannot go past this location. One of the photographs of one of the cars they used to use. A original piece of the berlin wall painted by an artist and donated to the Cold War Museum. Then we go up a little bit, checkpoint charlie, one of the original arm bands used at the guard gate that separated east and west germany there in downtown berlin. And an assortment of east german, west german stamps and books of the era. And on top there are original berlin east german and west german signs basically saying halt at the border, you cant go past this and to let people know it was a nomansland zone. Here weve got the original border marker that would separate east and west germany. It would give people walking in the area an idea they were getting close to a border and to not cross over the border. Then down here on the floor one of our signs from east berlin, west berlin saying no photographs were allowed for the United States military Liaison Mission. Theyd always do a cat and mouse game and try to chase them out before they can start to take pictures. The Cold War Museum back in about 2000ish or so we saved and salvaged the Civil Defense headquarters for washington, d. C. This headquarters was located 20 miles outside the washington, d. C. Area. In event of a nuclear war with the soviets this would have been a communication headquarter for Civil Defense. And this is schematic we drew up of the inside of the Civil Defense headquarters. And it has little cubicles here on one of the walls with gsa, with washington gas, with pepco, energy supplier, department of transportation, fire, d. C. Fiers, u. S. Park service and all of them would have to be coordinating together to broadcast out the signals to their receivers letting people know whats going on, is it safe to come out of your fall out shelters trying to help them in the event of a nuclear war. So this is the schematic for the Civil Defense headquarters in washington, d. C. Located in wharton, virginia, and what we have behind are actual items from this headquarters. We have the geiger counters that would pick up the radiation signals. We have the original crackers and the biscuits that would help you sustain life if you are stuck in a fall out shelter for two or three weeks on end. We have the emergency drinking water, Nuclear Survival kits that were put in shelters so people would know they could survive a short period of time after the fall out. Original medical tags, nuclear brochures. One of the original portable phones that is as big as a bread box. These fall out shelter signs were very prevalent during the cold war on most government buildings and School Buildings and libraries that had basements. They would automatically be turned into a Civil Defense shelter. Up here very unique, this is fall out shelter chart, and this one was actually used there for Civil Defense headquarters so if the bomb dropped here and the wind was going this way, this is where the radioactive fall out would trail, and theyd have to then broadcast that out through the Radio Systems through all their divisions to get the most exposure as possible. Up here on the right, we have a couple of the Civil Defense hats and helmets that were worn, a couple of the posters that were utilized at the time. Theres even a comic book about Civil Defense and what you can do to prepare, and then over here weve got a little cartoon character, Civil Defense guy who would help kids and schools to learn about duck and cover drills, bert the turtle and what to do in the event of a surprise attack. Be sure and remember what burt the turtle did because every one of us must remember to do the same thing. Thats what this film is all about, duck and cover. This is an official Civil Defense film produced in cooperation with the Civil Defense administration and in consultation with the Safety Commission of the national association. Over here we have a couple of Museum Visitors looking at our displays. Thank you for coming by, folks. And a little bit more about Civil Defense, this film is talking about how to build a bomb shelter in your basement with cinder blocks, and then this is the manual that was used for that. And then inside this is more Civil Defense items. What do you need in a Civil Defense fall out shelter . If youre going to be cooped up for two weeks youre going to need food, water, batteries, toiletries. You need to have a way to listen, a radio in case any broadcasts are coming out. So as a result of my father being who he was we do have small exhibit on the incident what my father went through. So over here we have a settlement of the u2, a couple of books about the u2 incident, my dads autobiography produced in 1970. We have james donovans book strangers on a bridge produced in 1965. We have my book published in 2017 called letters from a soviet prison that depicts his personal correspondence and his journal he kept in prison. My dad kept a journal and wrote in prison plus a historic account of what he went through while incarcerated. We have a variety of different Little Things here. Soviet sa2 missile, photographs, the type of missile that shot down my father and the type of missiles that were being deployed in cuba in october 62 during the cuban missile crisis. We have this shovel that i brought back in russia from the missile base where my father was shot down. So this is an authentic cold war historic item from the missile base that shot down the u2 on may 1st, 1960. In addition we have this that you kind have to back up to see. Its the booster stage of the sa2. The actual missile is 80 foot long. This missile is all we can fit at this time. The actual missile is outside in our Storage Facility next door. It gives you an idea of this model off the sa2. The booster section is at the end. The fins are not on this particular model but it gives you an idea what this particular component is for. The missile is 80 foot long and my father was able to survive being shot down by the soviet sa2 missile because it was not a direct hit. Had it been a direct hit he would have been in little pieces. But because it was a near miss the low end of the right of fuse lodge of the exterior of the airplane, it damaged the tail section, the nose pitches forward, the wings break off, dad falls from 70,000 feet to about 35,000 feet before bailing out of the airplane. He doesnt use the ejection seat. If he did he would have served his legs on the way out. Dad basically opened up the canopy, undoes his harness, caught up by his airhose struggling to get free, breaks free of the airhose, falls through the airplane, parachutes opens, parachutes to the ground. As hes parachuting to the ground he notices a dark car following his descent. The farmers rush up to him, well, dad doesnt speak russian, shrugs his shoulders, makes one of the farmers a little nervous. Who is this guy, falls out of the sky, holds a pitchfork up near him. A few moments ago he communicates in the dirt, usa. They take him to a holding area and then hes turned over to the kgb. Out in the open came the story of the most sensational intelligence stories yet revealed. America officially admits extensive flights over and around russia by unarmed planes during the last five years. States Department Lincoln white gives the reasons for the flights. Given the state of the world today intelligence collection activities are practiced by all countries. And postwar history certainly reveals that the soviet union has not been lagging behind in this field. They interrogate my father for three months, put him for a trial to embarrass the United States, his sentence is ten years in prison. He serves a total of 21 months before being exchanged and thats a quick condensed version. If youd like to learn more about the u2 incident and what my father went through google cspan gary powers. Theres a one hour lecture online that you can watch and get a full detailed account. Im interested in the cold wartime period and espionage primarily because i grew up in a cold war family. Had my father not been shot down, imprisoned by the kgb, ultimately exchanged by a soviet spy. If movies hadnt been written about him i might have a different interest. But my dad died when i was 12 years old. At that time it was too late to ask him any questions. So in high school i was very introverted. I didnt understand the significance of what my father went through or why people wanted to talk to me about it. In college i came out of my shell. I was curious, i started to ask questions and i wasnt starting my research to indivate my father. I knew there was controversy that surrounded him, but i always wanted to find out the truth and so that desire to find out the truth set me on a lifelong passion to find out all i could about the u2 incident. I realized i had to understand more about the cold war to understand the u2 incident to learnmore about my father. Thats why i started on this path and as i grew and developed and found out more information about the cold war is that there were hundreds, thousands of men and women sacrificed and died during this time period that didnt have any recognition. So we developed the