First quarter 2020 was a busy period for the Fort Miles Bunker Busters. We started out the year with the majority of our work teams focusing on preparing for this year’s April open house — “Delaware Defense Day”. Little did we, or did anyone else, know that the COVID-19 pandemic was around the corner and would stop us dead in our tracks. However, from January through mid-March, the teams were busy working on a number of projects. So here’s what kept us busy. 

Delaware Defense Day Preparations — Cantonment and Artillery Park 

We started in the Cantonment mess hall by building some sorely needed storage racks. We then moved our mess equipment to the mess hall kitchen area in anticipation of supporting additional food events this summer and fall. We also found and reconditioned an old ice chest that now holds our cold beverages. The only thing we were not able to accomplish due to the pandemic shut down was the installation of a metal countertop on the serving line, but we’ll get to that once we return. 

During some of the warmer February days, one of our barracks restoration team replaced the last 3 barrack windows and window frames. It only took us two and a half years, but all the Cantonment barracks windows have been repaired or replaced. We just have another 15 windows requiring a top paint coat and the entire window restoration window project will be completed. Our next major barracks project is scraping, repairing or replacing, and painting all the barrack exterior soffits. As of now, that project should begin this July, and with some cooperative weather, we should have this project completed in two years. 

Lastly, we removed the three old park benches surrounding the 16” gun and replaced them with newer, more comfortable benches. 

Delaware Defense Day Preparation — 519 Bunker 

There was a lot of activity going on in the 519 Bunker this past quarter. We finished cleaning, reorganizing, and painting our new tool storage enclosure that we started last fall. New brighter light fixtures have been added and the walls received a fresh coat of paint. The room looks much more presentable when passing through or peering through the main hallway opening. 

Meanwhile, we had two teams finish updating the men’s bathroom. Our carpenter team started by adding an additional storage cabinet for the bunker cleaning supplies and a paint team painted all the newly installed privacy doors and storage units. The last task was to consolidate all the bunker cleaning supplies in the new storage area. Now all the cleaning supplies are in one area, which makes it easier to locate them and decide what we need to replenish. 

The North Powder Room saw the most activity. We started out by removing all the old overhead panel lights and replaced them with museum quality track lighting. Next, with the help of the Cape Henlopen High School JROTCs, the walls were refreshed with a light gray coat of paint. We also finished building the railing / storyboard display for the diorama and painted the entire storyboard display. We then started to install a wall railing system that allows us to hang pictures, artwork and exhibit information descriptive text providing additional information on the walls. The nice thing about this system is that it’s flexible and will allow us to add and remove the wall hangings without marking the walls. Pretty neat! However, we still have one days’ work ahead of us before the railing is completed. Another project that we’ve been working on is a series of floor railings supporting additional storyboards that will be placed around five separate exhibit clusters. The railing will serve as a barrier around the exhibits, as well as providing an additional platform where we can place additional information describing an exhibited item. We still need another 5 or 6 working days before we finish this project. The last major project we’re working on in this room is building a structure capable of suspending a new exhibit for the newly acquired 400-pound M2 mine and one ton mine anchor. The M2 mine is an addition to our existing M3 and M4 mine display. 

Rounding out the 519 work projects, we also had teams that: 

  • Reconditioned and repurposed four display cases to hold new exhibit items. 
  • Repainted the South Powder Room walls. The Cape JROTC cadets also helped us with the painting. 
  • Reorganized the South Gun Room to make room for a series of exhibits about submarine activity off the Atlantic Coast. 
  • Installed a metal gate that was fabricated during the winter to the Dune Road entrance to 519 Bunker and the visitor parking lot. Unfortunately, we were unable to install the locking mechanism and apply the finish paint coat prior to the pandemic shut down. 
  • In addition, there are still four additional projects that we had intended to tackle in the late March – April timeframe in support of the April Defense of Delaware Day. They will go to the top of our “to do” list when we return. 

Other Projects 

The metal doors for the former Smith Plotting Room Bunker were installed in February. However, the bunker entrance had to be dug out, and the temporary wooden barricade and metal screening had to be removed before the doors could be installed. That required a team effort that was supported by the Park, the Cape JROTC cadets, and our Bunker Buster team. The Park provided their John Deere front loader and driver to remove the majority of the fill blocking the entrance, moving the newly fabricated doors from the Smith workshop to the Smith Plotting Room Bunker, and lifting the doors as the Bunker Buster team aligned and installed the doors. The JROTC cadets provided the extra muscle and energy to shovel out the remaining dirt the John Deere tractor couldn’t reach and removing the old enclosure debris. 

We’ve also had two teams involved in assisting our Delaware Seashore Preservation Association and Delaware Seashore State Park partners in the Tower 3, Phase 2 Enhancement Project. Our initial effort in this phase was for our electrical team to bury the new electric conduit between the primary site power source to the tower, and for the carpenter team to measure and plan the construction of window frames and coverings for the tower openings. The electric team will be returning this summer to install a new electrical panel in the tower, pull the new power line wire to the tower, and connect reconnect all existing and new power lines to the newly installed panel. Meanwhile the carpentry team will be building 12 window frames and coverings at our Smith workshop that will be installed at a later date. 

So that’s what we were doing the first two and a half months of the year. When we return to work, we will be completing the projects that we weren’t able to complete prior due to the close down, as well as starting a number of new projects in the main 519 Event Room (former North Gun Room). The fun never ends. 

Next time you visit the Museum hopefully you will recognize some of the above changes, as well as some additional projects and surprises that are currently in the works.