On November 6th, Fort Miles Museum, FMHA and Delaware State Parks were honored to host a visit by Delaware’s senior United States Senator, Tom Carper. Senator Carper has a long history of military service starting with a Navy ROTC scholarship at Ohio State. Tom then completed five years of service as a naval flight officer, serving three tours of duty in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. Following active duty, he continued to serve in the Naval Reserve as a P-3 aircraft mission commander. Retiring with the rank of Captain in 1991, Senator Carper completed a total of 23 years of military service. 

During his visit, Senator Carper shared his military experiences that related directly to Fort Miles. His P-3 missions utilized what was then a top secret Navy facility located at Fort Miles to track enemy submarines during the Cold War era. 

During the remarks portion of his visit, Senator Carper asked those present if any family members had perished during WWII. He then related a poignant story about his uncle, who was assigned to a Navy ship, which was attacked by Japanese kamikazi pilots. Senator Carper’s uncle lost his life in this attack – his body was never recovered. Clearly Senator Carper understands the commitment to service of all veterans and active duty military personnel. 

FMHA Board members and Bunker Buster volunteers showed the senator a relic acquired by the Museum earlier this year, which is a piece of steel from the USS Arizona, a battleship sunk at Pearl Harbor with the loss of over 1,100 American lives. This relic will be one of the bookends of two exhibits representing the beginning (USS Arizona 1941 sinking at Pearl Harbor) and end (16-inch gun barrel from the USS Missouri under which the Japanese surrendered in 1945) of World War II. These exhibits will be one of the highlights of future visitors to the Museum commencing in the spring of 2021. 

Thanks to Senator Carper and his staff for saluting the great progress made by the Fort Miles Historical Association and Delaware State Parks 17-year partnership toward creating a world class World War II museum in Delaware. 

A few pictorial highlights of Senator Carper’s visit: 


FMHA Board Member, Cliff Geisler, who oversaw the acquisition of a relic of the USS Arizona from the Department of the Navy, explains the acquisition process to the Senator, while FMHA President Dr Gary Wray and Mark Chura, FMHA Executive Director, listen in. 


Paul Rendel, a Milton DE based world renown military aircraft artist, explains his painting of WWII “Operation Varsity” to Senator Carper, inside the Museum’s Art Gallery. A recently donated Rendel painting “Fire Mission – Fort Miles” can be partially seen lower left. 


Cliff Geisler presents Senator Carper a memento of his visit. The highlighted area represents location of the Museum’s USS Arizona relic onboard the ship. The relic will be the central piece of a USS Arizona exhibit to be unveiled this spring at the Museum. 


Senator Carper poses at the Museum’s event venue with FMHA Board members and Bunker Buster volunteers, Delaware Division of Parks Director, Ray Bevins (center rear) and USS Arizona exhibit coordinator, Heidi Nasstrom Evans, with the Atlantic Ocean as the back drop.