Who We Are
We are Marine Corps veterans who served at Clarksville Base during the height of the Cold War. Clarksville Base, or "The Birdcage", was one of fourteen facilities around the US designed to store, modify and deliver atomic weapons to meet any threat from the Soviet Union. According to the historian of the Ft. Campbell Museum, the Birdcage was high on the "top ten" target list for Soviet inter-continental ballistic missiles.
Marines were assigned the mission of providing security for the base between 1952 and 1969 when it was permanently closed. When on duty sentries carried live ammunition with rounds chambered to meet any threat to the base. People were not permitted to stop, loiter or photograph anywhere near the perimeter of the base.Those who tried to do so were quickly warned off by alert sentries.The Marines took their jobs very seriously and there are numerous anecdotal accounts of shots being fired by sentries.
The security of the base was never breached while the Marines were posted at Clarksville Base.
10th Birdcage Reunion Possible
The 10th reunion is a possibility, but in a scaled down format from past years. We may have an "open" reunion - just gathering together without any formal programs or dinners. It would be in the Stafford, VA area near Quantico and the NUMMC on the third weekend in September 2012. Jim Shipley and John Tonkin will send out letters with details in March or April. A "tear-off" form will be part of that letter, the form to be completed and returned to the address indicated. We have a few new people on our roster, one of whom was a member of the first USMC unit to arrive at the Cage in 1952 with Col. Anthony "Cold Steel" Walker
(Updated 22 January 2012)