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Defense installations gave way to parks
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 3/14/9 | Peter Fimrite

Posted on 03/14/2009 10:53:12 AM PDT by SmithL

In the dunes amid trees and brush next to Baker Beach in San Francisco is what looks like an old, rusted pipe sticking mysteriously out of the sandy ground.

Beachgoers, picnickers and children clambering in the bluffs around the beach have ambled by the steel pole for more than six decades, unaware that it represents one of the scariest moments in San Francisco history.

The pole was used to mount a 30-caliber, water-cooled machine gun, while the caved-in trench next to it provided cover for a crew of four soldiers ready to strafe the beach and waters at the first sign of any invading Japanese.

It is a remnant of an unprecedented military escalation during World War II that led to the preservation of the very beaches that were in so much jeopardy then.

"Here you are, a stone's throw from Lincoln Boulevard and the Sea Cliff neighborhood and you find the fortifications of World War II that were largely forgotten," said Steve Haller, the historian for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, standing next to the pole in a quiet glen surrounded by a panorama of ocean, beach and coastal cliffs. "This was a fighting pit for machine guns."

Many people know that gun placements and pill boxes designed to repel an attack still line the beaches of San Francisco and Marin County, but there is more than meets the eye.

In the dunes and on the bluffs, hidden in deep brush and on cliff faces, are dozens of weathered foxholes, gun mounts, machine-gun nests, old sand bags, rusty barbed wire and other reminders of a dark time in history.

Haller said 50 to 60 concealed gun mounts and fortifications have been found on and around beaches in San Francisco and Marin in the past year alone.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: History; Local News; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: batterychamberlin; fortifications; milhist; wwii

A 6-inch gun fires a practice round at Battery Chamberlin about a century ago.
1 posted on 03/14/2009 10:53:13 AM PDT by SmithL
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To: indcons

The California coast has a lot of fascinating military fortifications and armaments hidden away. Once, my Webelos group was invited to camp with a Boy Scout Troop inside one of Battery Chamberlin’s bunkers. It was a great place to camp, but I wish I’d been forewarned about the clothing-optional beach that the Battery overlooks.


2 posted on 03/14/2009 10:53:37 AM PDT by SmithL (The Golden State demands all of your gold)
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To: SmithL

Well, since the U.S. will be totally bankrupt soon, we won’t need a defense. Nothing left to defend.

What we haven;t given away, the Mexicans will take away.


3 posted on 03/14/2009 10:54:53 AM PDT by ZULU (Obamanation of Desolation is President. Non nobis, non nobis Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam.)
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To: SmithL
Nike Missile Site
4 posted on 03/14/2009 11:09:22 AM PDT by OCC
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To: ZULU

That’s the spirit that tamed the American West!


5 posted on 03/14/2009 11:21:14 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: SmithL

Cities of the Underground filmed in one of these hidden bunkers underneath The Presidio and Golden Gate Park.

Fascinating, just incredible.

Ed


6 posted on 03/15/2009 1:50:04 AM PDT by Sir_Ed
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