Gunnison Rd & Atlantic Dr
Highlands, NJ 07732
USA
Come on out to Battery Gunnison / New Peck at Gateway National Recreation Area in Sandy Hook for an amazing day of history at World War II Harbor Defense Day!
The time: May 1943. Seventy-five years ago, the Allied forces in the North Atlantic are still recovering from a savage offensive by Nazi Germany’s submarine fleet in March. In just 31 days, these ‘U-Boats’ sank nearly one million tons of Allied merchant vessels carrying vital war supplies to the European Theater of Operations (ETO). The Allies conducted a counter-offensive in April, sinking a large number of German U-Boats. But the Battle of The Atlantic is nowhere near finished. As the battles on the ocean are fought within visual distance of the Jersey Shore, here at Fort Hancock – the entrance to New York Harbor – the US Army’s Coast Artillery Corps provides the first line of America’s defense.
Please join us as we take you inside one of the most critical and secret components of the Battle of the Atlantic.
The Army Ground Forces Association has been restoring Battery Gunnison / New Peck and conducting living history events at Fort Hancock since 2003. Over the last 15 years, Battery Gunnison has become the finest preserved and restored seacoast artillery battery in the nation. Members of AGFA are uniformed as Soldiers of the US Army in World War 2, with full field gear and equipment, and you will truly step back into 1943 when you enter the Battery.
World War II Harbor Defense Day activities will include:
- Gun Drills on one of the rare M1900 6-inch seacoast guns;
- Instructions in the only restored Coast Artillery plotting room in the nation, where you will learn all about ‘fire control,’ and how the Coast Artillery could hit a moving ship up to 25 miles out to sea – without computers;
- Tours of the magazines where the 6-inch projectiles and gunpowder bags were stored;
- US Army WW2 medical equipment displays;
- Use of the vintage fire-control telephone system;
- Tracking ships with 100 year old Army telescopes.
Due to the large number of living historians, original equipment and military vehicle displays, this is a wonderful opportunity for education, as well as for unique photography not normally available in the area.
Learn more about World War II Harbor Defense Day here!
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