CDSG Newsletter
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CDSGThe Newsletter The Coast Defense Study Group, Inc. — May 2015 Chairman’s Message CDSG Meeting and Tour Calendar Norm Scarpulla Please advise Terry McGovern of any additions or changes at [email protected] Our 2015 conference, April 29 to May 3, covered the defenses of the Delaware River. We saw First-System Fort Mifflin at Phila- CDSG Special Tour delphia, little changed from its 1790’s configuration, and later February 27 - March 7, 2016 fortifications including Third-System Fort Delaware, and World Panama Canal Zone War 2 Fort Miles at the ocean. The site owners, including New Terry McGovern, [email protected] Jersey and Delaware state park managers, were gracious hosts, ar- ranging lunches and allowing us to see everything. 2016 CDSG Annual Conference October 2016 HD Portsmouth NH Craig Lentz, [email protected] 2017 CDSG Annual Conference April 2017 New York N. Scarpulla & S. Welch, [email protected] CDSG Special Tour June 2017 Defenses of Switzerland Terry McGovern, [email protected] During the conference we held the annual meeting on May 2 in 2018 CDSG Conference Battery 519. The former Fort Miles battery has been cleaned and April 2018 restored by the Fort Miles Historical Association. Our finances Proposed Columbia River, OR/WA continue to be strong. However, each year we tend to lose as many members as we gain. We have published the third edition of Other Meetings and Tours American Seacoast Defenses, our reference book on the subject. It is available both electronically and on paper, and we are printing June 13, 2015 on demand, so that we do not hold an inventory. Association Saint-Maurice d'Etudes Militaries Tour We need members to write articles for the Journal and Newslet- Gondo/Route Napoleon Tour ter. Even a short report about a visit to a fort is useful. Articles that Col. Pascal Bruchez, [email protected] narrate the history of a fort or the experiences of a coast artillery veteran can be published in the Journal. More complex are articles September 5-12, 2015 that examine why and how the forts were built and operated, or ECCOFORT Reg. Association Tour the history and operation of a particular piece of equipment. If Verona, Italy you have an idea for an article, contact our Journal editor, Bolling Hans-Rudolf Neuman, [email protected] Smith, and discuss what might be needed to write it. Please consider being a site representative, a member who stays September 9-13, 2015 in contact with the owner or manager of a coast defense site, and Association Vauban Study Tour acts as a conduit for information both ways. What is going on at the Stockholm, Sweden site? What questions does the site manager have? You don’t need to Mary Pierdait Fillie, [email protected] be an expert on coast defense; you just need to be willing to make contact with the site owner or manager periodically and show that September 16-21, 2015 CDSG will support the preservation and interpretation of the site. Association Saint-Maurice d'Etudes Militaries Tour Hamburg, Germany Col. Pascal Bruchez, [email protected] The CDSG Newsletter, May 2015 Page 2 September 2015 November 7, 2015 Annual Meeting Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Fetungsforshung Association Saint-Maurice d'Etudes Militaries Annual Meeting Nurnberg, Germany St.-Maurice, Switzerland Col. Pascal Bruchez, [email protected] September 2015 Fortress Study Group Annual Conference May 2016 Clyde, Scotland Fortress Study Group Overseas Tour Norman Clark, [email protected] Menorca/Majorca TBA, [email protected] September 2015 Association Vauban Tour May 2016 Sweden Council on Ameirica's Miitary Past Annual Conference Mary Pierdait Fillie, [email protected] Baltimore, MD Marylou Gjernes, [email protected] October 3 - 10, 2015 Menno van Coehoorn Meeting and Tour September 2016 Wesel, Germany Association Saint-Maurice d'Etudes Militaries Annual Meeting Fritz van Horn, [email protected] Italian Alps - Dolmiten Col. Pascal Bruchez, [email protected] October 10-11, 2015 International Fortress Forum Fair Sept/Oct 2016 Citadelle de Montmedy ECCOFORT Reg. Association Tour Michel Mansuy, [email protected] Edirne, the Dardenelles, Istanbul Hans-Rudolf Neuman, [email protected] October 16, 2015 International Fortress Council Annual Meeting October 2016 Antwerp, Belgium International Fortress Council Annual Meeting Kees Neisingh, [email protected] Toulon, France Kees Neisingh, [email protected] November 7, 2015 Menno van Coehoorn Meeting May 2017 Grouw, Netherlands Fortress Study Group Overseas Tour Fritz van Horn, [email protected] Lake Garda, Italy Norman Clark, [email protected] Currently, we have 362 members. We need to continue to * * * * * attract people interested in military history and coast defense. USS Missouri Cannon When you visit a fort or a military event, be an ambassador for Norm Scarpulla the CDSG. Wear a CDSG shirt, hat, or patch. Talk to people about the organization and point them to our website, CDSG. Over the past few years, CDSG has facilitated the donation org. Can you recruit a new member in 2015? of the navy’s spare 16” gun barrels for the Iowa-class battleships to memorials and former army 16-inch gun batteries. One of * * * * * the barrels, once on USS Missouri (BB-63), is now part of the Membership Committee Chairman Arizona World War 2 memorial in Bolin Memorial Park, in front of the state capitol in Phoenix, AZ. The memorial also includes CDSG needs a volunteer to serve as Membership Committee a 14-inch gun barrel from USS Arizona. Chairman. This person would be responsible for receiving new and renewal member payments, maintaining membership records, receiving CDSG Fund donations, maintaining membership bro- chures and posters, and developing methods to build membership. Note that this person’s address becomes the “face of the organiza- tion,” and because of that, we need the volunteer to commit to holding the position for at least three years. If you are interested, please contact CDSG Board Chairman Norm Scarpulla at nands. [email protected] or 978-475-2094. The CDSG Newsletter, May 2015 Page 3 * * * * * In San Francisco the Doyle Drive/Presidio Parkway project CDSG Tour to the Defenses of continues to move forward. I continue to get email advisories the Panama Canal on traffic changes as the project progresses. Further information Terrance McGovern on this project can be found at http://www.presidioparkway.org/. There has been no change in the situation at Fort Monroe Paolo Sanfilippo and Terry McGovern have finalized plans for a and no changes to the status of plans at Gateway NRA since CDSG special tour to the defenses of the Panama Canal from the last newsletter’s column. I have listed the primary sources of February 27 to March 7, 2016. The first and last CDSG tour to information of these again below. Panama was in 1993, so it has been 22 years since the CDSG has Information about the General Management Plan for Gateway held a tour to these defenses. Paolo has developed the tentative NRA can be found at schedule for a 10-day tour to the defenses of the Panama Canal. http://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome. For complete details please see the flyer attached to this issue of cfm?projectID=16091 the CDSG Newsletter. Information on the NPS plans for Fort Monroe can be found at We plan to stay at the Amador Ocean View Hotel on the http://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome. Pacific side and theFour Points Sheraton on the Atlantic side. cfm?projectID=41444 The estimated in-country cost is $2,000 per person (hotels, and more general information at the Fort Monroe Authority’s meals, transportation, guides, fees). The current cost of airfare website http://www.fmauthority.com/ from Washington, DC to Panama City is about $750 round trip. In Boston, the demolition of the bridge to Long Island, site of Please send a $100 deposit (made out to Terry McGovern – Fort Strong, has been completed; with any possible replacement Panama Tour) to Terry McGovern at [email protected] or years away, any visit to Fort Strong will be very difficult at best 1700 Oak Lane, McLean, VA 22101 along with your contact and may also mean that if there is any damage to the structures information if you want to attend this 10-day special tour to there, it may go unnoticed for an extended period of time. I will Panama. Our planning on based on 20 members attending, check into what the situation with the fort will be. so the first 20 members to send me their $100 deposit will be If you have a preservation issue, or for further information on include in the tour. any of the items I have mentioned, contact Preservation Com- mittee Chair Gordon Bliss at [email protected]. * * * * * Preservation Committee Report * * * * Gordon Bliss CDSG Fund Report for 2014 Terrance McGovern, Trustee At Fort Emory (HD San Diego) the navy is going to demolish Battery 134 as part of a major development of training facilities. The CDSG Fund supports the efforts of the Coast Defense They are planning to keep and reuse Battery Grant (BCN 239) Study Group, Inc., by raising funds for preservation and interpre- and the PSR for Battery 134. However, without Battery 134, the tation of American seacoast defenses. The CDSG Fund is seeking site may no longer qualify as an historic district. The CDSG will donations for preservation projects supporting these goals. Dona- be receiving a copy of the documentation on the battery that the tions are tax-deductible for federal tax purposes as the CDSG is a navy is obliged to do, and if there are any salvageable artifacts 501(c)(3) organization, and 100% of your gift will go to project the navy has agreed to loan them to an appropriate institution or grants.