Images of Minuteman Missile National Historical Site – South Dakota, taken in July 2017.

A relic of the Cold War, the Minuteman Missile National Historical Site stands as a reminder of the tensions between the two superpowers of the time, the United States and the Soviet Union. Below ground in remote regions of our country hundreds of 1.2-megaton warheads sat in silos ready for launch. As the Cold War waned the Minuteman Program ended and the silos were decommissioned. In 1999 Congress preserved two representative sites; Delta-01, a launch control facility which would have controlled a number of launch sites; and Delta-09, a missile silo launch site complete with an unarmed Minuteman II missile.

The sites were inconspicuous in appearance; the command centers resembled prairie ranch houses although with heavily secured boundaries and the silos were fenced off areas with low profile concrete slabs and several posts and poles. The destructive power they possessed was not obvious to the naked eye but represented mutual assured destruction if a single missile was ever launched. None were, as their true purpose turned out to be that of deterrence. In that respect these missiles served their mission.