Cold War Artifacts Found

March 21, 2006 mle3

I find it interesting that although we continually chop down trees and rainforests every year, and that the ocean has become known as “the final frontier,” that every now and again, surprises still lurk in the shadows of our own state.

A Cold War bunker was found inside of the Brooklyn Bridge base this week. Although the place previously had been used for storage, containers were recently found inside of a cache on the third floor, with supplies in case of an emergency. These supplies included crackers that were to be consumed as part of a 10,000 calorie diet, and empty water drums.

The fact that so much history exists under our very noses is fascinating to me. When I was a kid I used to go down to my basement, and play in the small spare room that held all of our storage. I used to wish that somewhere in that room would be an old diary from a former tenant, or a box of toys no one had ever seen before. Okay, so you caught me, I had an active imagination as a kid. Still do, actually.

But the fact is, so much of our past is right in front of our face. We ignore it, trample over it, or preserve it in museums. I only wish we didn’t spend so much time modernizing and adapting. Back in the Cold War era, those items were important. For good reason. Hopefully such findings can help us better understand our past, embrace it, and keep it with us when we move on in life, leaving behind our old keepsakes and storage.