Museum at vint hill, virginia, 45 miles west of washington, d. C. I founded the Cold War Museum in 1986 to honor cold war veterans, preserve cold war history and educate future generations about the time period. What i realized when i was giving lectures to High School Students in this area, nine times out of ten, the students wouldnt know anything about the cold war or the u2 incident. They would think the u2 incident had something to do with the u2 rock band. As a result, i knew they needed to be taught about the cold wartime period. As a result, i ended up noticing they needed to be taught about the cold war time period. So in 1996, we founded the Cold War Museum, which opened in 2011 here at vint hill farms station, a former Army Communication base near the washington, d. C. , area. It used to be used by nsa, cia, asa, Army Security agency, and other groups to monitor the Electronic Communications from around the washington, d. C. , Embassy Region and International Signals that 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, september 2nd, end of world war ii, to december 26th, 1991, 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 m. A. D. , mutually assured destruction, if one side or the other side threw out atomic bombs. There would be no winners. So this cold war did not have direct military conflict. A state of heightened tension between the season yets and americans. We fought wars and battles through surrogate countries, vietnam, korea, gulf war, afghan war. Vint hill farm station was functional between world war ii and the mid 90s. After the end of the cold war 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 it was called b brac. Base, realignment and closure act. And in the 90s, lots of bases were shut down, cost savings, financial reasons. Plus we didnt need as many facilities. So it was closed in the mid 90s, sat vacant for about ten years. We found out that this was available. We pitched an idea to the vint Hill Economic Development authority. They said, yes, we would love to talk to you about locating here. After a little negotiations, we started in 2008. Reopened in 2011 here at this facility. Step this way. With a little overview 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 were monitoring the traffic of the communications. So there are different radio receivers, transmitters, morse code receptors. Even some original photos of the barn and the listening post that i can walk you through right here. Back in world war ii and the cold war era, women, as well as men, were serving here as radio operators and receivers. Gives a very good history of the womens role in the military at the time. Everything from helping to defend our nation to what they do today, flying the planes and doing Everything Else on a asneeded basis to help protect america at home. 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 his ham radio. He invited one of his friends over whos 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 topographical area, the granite, the composition of the soil was such, its a natural receiver. So signals from 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 retired. And then the farm turned into the vint hill farm station and was an active Radio Communications center from world war ii up to the mid 90s after the end of the cold war. So heres the original picture of the barn, what it looks 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 the sportsmans club, one of the original patches we have from that era. Heres a photograph of the fields with some of the antenna rays that 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 then more information over here of their radio antennas, the farm, the military personnel who were stationed here, the chow line, and then this is a good photo here of them 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 then this is a very nice picture of what the barn used to look like with all the receivers and the men and women who were 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, some 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 the 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 this is the type of intelligence operation they were doing here, was intercepting the signals from the air. These are the type of antenna rays that are onsite that were picking up a variety of signals from 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. So it was a variety of different signals that they were intercepting, primarily to determine what channels were worth listening to that could be of military strength and advantage. They would listen to the broadcast, 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 and or critical to the war time effort. So then were going to go into the next room here. Here on this display, its all about east germany, west germany, the iron curtain. The military liaison mission. That was stationed in germany. It was a french mission. A russian mission. A British Mission and an american mission. And what we have here is an original license plate from one of the american missions, the cars that would go and do a little espionage activity occasionally across the iron curtain. Some original pieces of the barbed wire from the hungarian border. An original sign that basically said, you know, halt, prohibited. You cannot go past this location. One of the cars, a photograph of one of the cars they used to use. Original piece of the berlin wall that was painted by an artist and donated to the Cold War Museum. Then if we go up a little bit, checkpoint charlie. One of the original arm bands that was used at the guard gate that separated east and west germany there in downtown berlin. And an assortment of other little east german and west german stamps and coins and books of the era. Up on top, there are original berlin, east german and west german signs, basically saying, you know, halt, its a border. You cant go past this. And to let people know that it was a dangerous area or the no mans zone in the border between east and west germany. Here weve got an original border marker that would separate east and west germany. It would give people walking in the area an idea that they were getting close to a border and to not cross over the border. Then down here on the floor of one of our signs, again from east berlin, west berlin, saying that no photographs were allowed for the United States military liaison mission. The missions were allowed to be in the Foreign Countries, but they would always do a cat and mouse game and try to chase them out before they could take pictures. Were going to start to get into some Civil Defense. 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 in lorton, virginia, 20 miles outside of the washington, d. C. , area. In the event of a nuclear war with the soviets, this would have been the communication headquarters for Civil Defense. And this is a 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. Fire. 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 fallout shelters, trying to help in the event of a nuclear war. So this is the schematic for the Civil Defense headquarters of in washington, d. C. , located in lorton, 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 sustain life if you are stuck in a fallout shelter for two or three weeks on end. We have the emergency drinking water, nask, Nuclear Attack survival kits, that were put in shelters so people would know they could survive a short time after the fallout. Original medical tags, nuclear brochures. One of the original portable phones that is as big as a bread box. These fallout 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. Then up here, very unique. This is a fallout forecast chart. And this one was actually used there at the Civil Defense headquarters so if the bomb dropped here, and the wind was going this way, this is where the radioactive fallout would trail. And they would have to then broadcast that out through the radio system, through all their divisions to get 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, burt the turtle, and what to do in the event of a surprise attack. Duck and cover be sure and remember what burt the turtle just did, friends, 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 federal Civil Defense administration and in consultation with the Safety Commission of the National Education association. So right over here, we have a couple of Museum Visitors that are looking at our displays. Thank you for coming by today, 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. Enough to and 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 fallout shelter . If youre going to be cooped up for two weeks, youre going to need food. You need water. You need batteries, matches. You need toiletries. You need to have a way to listen, radio, in case any broadcasts are coming out. You need to have light for lanterns. You need to have a way to get fresh oxygen into the into the facility and this was a handcranked pump that would suck air in through filters. So as a result of my father being who he was, francis gary powers, u2 pilot shot down may 1st of 1960, we do have a small exhibit on the u2 incident and what my father went through. So over here we have a silhouette of the u2. We have a couple of books about the u2 incident. My dads autobiography, frap francis gary powers, operation overflight 1970. James donovans book, strangers on a bridge produced in 1965, all about the soviet spy, rudolph abel that my father was exchanged for. 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 in this journal and wrote letters in prison. Its an 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 being deployed in cuba in october of 62 during the cuban missile crisis. We have this shovel that i brought back from 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 of 1960. In addition, we have this. You have to kind of back up to see. Its the booster stage of the sa2. The actual missile is 80 feet long. This booster is all we can fit in the museum at this time. The actual missile is outside in our Storage Facility next door. But it gives you an idea with this model of the sa2, the booster section is at the end. The fins are not on this particular model. But it gives an idea of what this component is for. As you can see, even the scale model, the missile is 80 feet 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, below and to the right of the fuselage of the exterior of the airplane, the damage to the tail section, the nose pitches forward, the wings break off. Dad falls from 70,000 feet to about 35,000 feet before baling out of the airplane. He doesnt use the ejection seat. If he did, he would have severed his legs on the way out. Dad basically opened up the canopy, undoes his harness, caught up by his air hose, struggling to get free. Breaks free of the air hose, falls through the airplane, parachute opens, parachutes to the ground. Hes very lucky to have lived through the shootdown. So as my father is parachuting to the ground, hes noticing a dark car following his descent. He lands on the skirts of a collective farm. The farmers rush up to him, help him with his backpack, parachute, helmet, start to ask him questions in russian. Well, dad doesnt speak russian. Shrugs his shoulders, makes one of the farmers nervous. Who is this guy, falls out of the sky, doesnt speak our language, holds up a pitchfork. A few moments later, dad communicates in the dirt, usa. So they know hes an american. The black car shows up, two men get out, put him in the back seat, take him to a holding area and turned over to the kgb. Moscow, Nakita Khrushchev hold a soviet that pilot gary powers of the downed american reconnaissance plane was alive and russia had seized five photographs made 1,400 miles inside soviet borders two days before the summit talks and mr. K was picked to play on the propaganda advantage. The most sensational intelligence operations yet revealed. America official admits extensive flights over and around russia by unarmed planes during the last five years. State Department SpokesmanLincoln White gives the reasons for the flights. Given the state of the world today, intelligence collection activities are practiced by all countries, and post war history ce