Free Republic

The last defense against a Soviet nuclear attack was in the back yards of North Jersey. Tucked behind Gary's Wine Marketplace on Route 23 north in Wayne are 32 acres owned by Passaic County that were once home to a missile base and now stand as a relic to the Cold War era. Through the height of the Cold War, from 1955 to 1963, 14 Nike missile batteries were nestled in suburban communities throughout the state, at the ready to fire against any Soviet bomber that might have dodged the U.S. Air Force's interceptors and headed toward New York City....

Right until he settles into the chair, you would never know he has it in him. He's just Don Bender, a mild-mannered, middle-aged advertising consultant and amateur historian with a thing for tweed jackets.Then he sits.Suddenly, with a bank of radar screens and a wall full of buttons and knobs in front of him, he's Don Bender, missile commander. The Red Menace needs to be shot out of the sky, and the launch button at his fingertips for the nuclear-tipped Nike missile is America's last line of defense."We've got a Russian bomber 110 miles out," Bender yells to his imaginary...