Houses a Museum Dedicated to remembering the cold war. This is just under one hour. Gary welcome. My name is Francis Gary Powers jr. , i go by gary. I am the founder of the Cold War Museum at vint hill, virginia, about 45 miles west of washington, d. C. I founded the Cold War Museum in 1996 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 Highschool Students in the area, 19 times out of 10, the students wouldnt know anything about the cold war or the u2 incident. They would think the u2 incidents have to do with the rock band. As a result, i noticed that they needed to be taught about the cold war. In 1996, we founded the Cold War Museum, which opened in 2011 here at a former Army Communication base near the washington, d. C. Area. It used to be used by the nsa, cia, Army Security agency and other groups to monitor the Electronic Communications around the washington, d. C. Embassy region and International Signals they were able to pick up from the atmosphere. Today take you on a tour of the Cold War Museum. What is the cold war . It was a time period between 1945, the end of world war ii, until 1991 with the collapse of the soviet union. It was a geopolitical standoff between the soviets and the americans. Each one, a superpower, 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 ew out atomic bombs, there would be no winners. This cold war was a state of heightened tension that did not have a direct military conflict, between the soviets and the americans. We fought wars and battles through surrogate countries vietnam, korea, the gulf war, and the afghan war. The vint hill farm station was functional between world war ii and the 1990s. After the end of the cold war, the American Government realized there was no need for this facility because there was no more soviet union. The cold war had ended. That and there was an act called brac, the base realignment and closure act. In the mid1990s, lots of military bases were shut down for cost savings, financial reasons. Plus, we did not need as many facilities to monitor the soviet union because it did not exist. So it was closed in the mid 90s and it set vacant for about 10 years. We found out this was available and 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 negotiations, we started in 2008, opened in 2011. Step this way. With a little overview of the vint hill farm station. Behind this mannequin is one of the original signs talking about the communication base. And that it was monitoring station 1. 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 and the communications. There are different radio receivers, transmitters, morse code receptors, even some original photos of the barn and a listening post that i can walk you through right here. Back in world war ii, in the cold war era, women and men were serving here as radio operators and receivers. It gives you a very good history of the womens role in the military at the time. Everything from helping defend our nation to what they do today, flying the planes and Everything Else to protect america at home. Right down here, the barn complex, prior to becoming a listening post, and the story goes that the farmer who owned this farm was a ham radio operator. He would pick up German Communications and japanese communications, and italian Communications Broadcasting on his ham radio. So he invited one of his friends over who was in the military, a general at the pentagon. The general was astounded he could listen to these foreign broadcasts here at this location. So they did some surveys and found out the topographical area, the granite, the composition of the soil was such that it was a natural receiver. So, signals from around the road would 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 went and retired. The farm turned into the station and was an active Radio Communications center from world ii up to the mid90s, after the end of the cold war. Here is the original picture of the barn, what it looks like. We are basically in this building right now. Then we have more photos of what the barn looked like. Once the listening post was active, it turned into a military base. It was called the vint hill farm station. This was the sportsman club, one of the patches we have from that era. Here is a photograph of the fields with some of the antenna that you can rays see. Some of the people looking at the different equipment and or teletyping equipment. Some of the original radio equipment, similar to what we have inside on display. More on radio antennas, the farm, the military personnel who were stationed here, the chow line, the photo of them listening to the radio, intercepting and taking down notes as to what was being broadcast. Over here, nice picture of people working, intercepting Radio Communications. This was a 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 broadcast. In addition, while we are in this room, a different assortment of uniforms that we have in our collection, some are from world war ii, some from the cold war era. This was an original coat rack from the Civil Defense headquarters in washington, d. C. Almost everything 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 agencies did here at this site during world war ii and the cold war to monitor and intercept the Radio Communications. As we start to exit, you can see what the base looked like back in the 1950s. It was sigint, stands for signal intelligence. This was the type of intelligence operation they were doing here, intercepting the signals from the air. These are the type of antenna arrays onsite that were picking up a variety of signals from around the world, as well as the Embassy Communications from washington, d. C. 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. There were a variety of different signals 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. When they found one that was important, they would transcribe it. They would not transcribe every bit of information that came across, only that was crucial and critical to the wartime effort. We are going into the next room here. Here on this display, it is all about east germany, west germany, the iron curtain, the military Liaison Mission that was stationed in germany. There was a french mission, a russian mission, a british mission, and american mission. What we have here is an original license plate from one of the american missions, the cars of that would go and do a little espionage activity occasionally across the iron curtain. Some original pieces of barbed wire from the hungarian border. An original sign that basically said, halt, prohibited, you cannot go past this location. One of the cars, a photograph of one of the cars they used to use. An original piece of the berlin wall painted by an artist and donated to the museum. If we go up a little bit, checkpoint charlie, one of the original armbands used at the guard gate that separated east and west germany in downtown berlin. Then, an assortment of other east german and west german stamps and coins and knickknacks of the era. Up top, there are original berlin east and west german signs, saying this is the border, you cannot go past this, and to let people know it was a dangerous area or the no mans zone in between the border of east and west germany. Here we have an original border marker that would separate east and west germany. It would give people walking in the area an idea theyre getting close to the border and to not cross the border. Down here on the floor, one of our signs from east berlin, west berlin, saying 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 chase them out before they get get some pictures. We will start to get into some Civil Defense. The Cold War Museum, about 2000ish, we salvaged some from the Civil Defense headquarters for washington, d. C. The 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 Communications Headquarters for Civil Defense. This is a schematic we drew up of the inside of the Civil Defense headquarters. It has little cubicles on one of the walls with g. S. A. , washington gas, pepco energy supply, department of transportation, d. C. Fire, the u. S. Park service. All of them would have to the would have to be coordinating together to broadcast out the signals to their receivers to let people know if it is safe to come out of your fallout shelters, trying to help them in the event of a nuclear war. So this is the schematic for the Civil Defense headquarters for washington, d. C. , located in lorton, virginia. What we have behind is actual items from this headquarters. We have the geiger counters that would pick up the radiation signals. The original crackers and biscuits that would help you sustain life if you are stuck in a fallout shelter for two or three weeks on end. We have the emergency drinking water, masks, Nuclear Survival kits put in shelters so the people would know they could survive a short period of time. Original medical tags. Nuclear brochures. One of the original portable phones that is as big as a breadbox. 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. Up here, very unique. This is a fallout forecast chart. This was actually used at the Civil Defense headquarters so that if the bomb dropped here and the wind was going this way, this is where the radioactive fallout would trail. They would have to then broadcast that out through the radio system, through all their divisions, to get the most exposure possible. Up here on the right, we have a couple of Civil Defense helmets that were worn, a couple of the posters utilized at the time. There is even a comic book about Civil Defense and what you can do to prepare. Then over here, we have a little cartoon character, a Civil Defense guy who would help kids in schools to learn about duck and cover drills and what to do in the event of a surprise attack. [video clip] duck and cover be sure and remember what the turtle just did, friends, because everyone of us must remember to do the same thing. That is what this film is all about. Duck and cover. This is an official Civil Defense film produced in cooperation with the Civil Defense administration and in consultation with the Safety Commission of the National Education association. [video clip ends] gary right over here, we have a couple of museum visitors, thank you for coming by today. A little bit more about Civil Defense. This film is talking about how to build a bomb shelter in your basement with cinderblocks. Enough to and this is the manual that was used for that. And then inside this, more Civil Defense items. What do you need in a Civil Defense fallout shelter . If you are 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, a radio in case a broadcast was coming out. You need to have light for lanterns. You need to have a way to get fresh oxygen into the facility. This is a handcranked pump that would suck air into filters. As a result of my father being who he was, a u2 pilot shot down in the 1960s, we do have a small exhibit on what my father went through. Over here we have a silhouette of the u2 and a couple of books about the incident. My dads autobiography, operation overflight, produced in 1970. We have james donovans book, strangers on a bridge, produced in 1965. This is all about the soviet spy, rudolph abel, who my father was exchanged for. We have my book published in 2017. It depicts his personal correspondence and the journal my dad kept and the letters from prison. It is a historic account of what he went through while incarcerated. We have a variety of different Little Things here. Soviet fa2 missile photographs. The type of missile that shot down my father and the type of cubales being deployed in in 1962 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 shut down the u2 in may 1, 1960. In addition, we have this, the booster stage of the sa2. The actual missile is 80 feet long. This booster was all be could 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 they give you an idea of what this component is for. As you can see, even the scale model, the missile is 80 feet long. My father was able to survive being shot down by the soviet missile because it was not a direct hit. Had it been a direct hit, he would have been in little pieces. Because it was a near miss, below and to the right of the fuselage, it damaged the tail section, the nose pitches forward, the wings break off. Dad falls from 70,000 feet to about 35,000 feet, before bailing out of the airplane. He does not use the ejection seat. If he did, he would have severed his legs on the way out. Dad basically opened the canopy, undoes his harness, caught up by his air hose, struggling to get free, breaks free from the air hose, falls through the airplane, parachute opens, parachutes to the ground. He was very lucky to have lived through the shootdown. As he parachuted to the ground, he is noticing a dark car following his decent. He lands on the outskirts of the collective farm. The farmers rush up to him, help him with his back pack, parachute and helmet, start to ask questions in russian. My dad doesnt speak russian. He shrugs. That makes the farmers nervous. Who is this guy who falls out of the sky and doesnt speak our language . They hold a pitchfork up to him. A few moments later, dad communicates in the dirt, usa. So they know that he is american. A few moments go by, the black car shows up. Two men get out, put them in the back seat, they take him to a holding area. Then, he is turned over to the kgb. [video clip] in moscow, Nikita Khrushchevs shown as he told the soviet presidium that the downed american pilot, gary powers, was alive. That the russians have found photographs made 1400 miles inside soviet borders. The plane was brought down mayday, less than two weeks before the summit talks. He was quick to play on the incident for public advantage. Out in the open came the story of the most sensational intelligence operation. America admits flights over russia by unarmed planes of the last five years. State Department Spokesman lincolnwood gives the reason for the flight. Given the state of the war today, intelligence collection activities are practiced what practiced by all countries. Postwar history certainly reveals the soviet union has not been lagging behind in this field. They interrogate my father for three months. They put him before trial, an international showtrial to embarrass the United States. His sentence is 10 years in prison, he serves a total of 21 months before being exchanged for rudolf abel. That is a quick, condensed version. If you would like to learn more about the incident, and what my father went through, google cspan gary powers. Theres a onehour lecture from the Virginia Historical society online. You can watch and get a