BigmahiNewsandViews: Veteran's Day Commemoration to 28 Men Lost Aboard Texas Tower 4

Veteran's Day. It is great to see how many people are celebrating this day with posts on Facebook and Twitter. Many are showing photos of loved ones, alive and deceased. Many are grainy images 50 years old. Many show youthful faces filled with smiles. Now so many are old, faces creased with memories both wonderful and sad. My tribute goes to the 28 men aboard the Texas Tower 4 who perished mmiserably in the tower collapse in a horrible winter Nor'Easter 75 miles SE o f NY Harbor.
TT4 was the closest of (3) offshore Defense Early Warning System (DEWS) structures located along the Mid-Atlantic coast. It was crippled from the start with a bad third leg which was repaired a few times but ultimately failed during a horrible Nor’easter on January 15, 1961. This unique structure was initially deployed to watch the skies for a surprise Russian invasion and to offer the mainland an early warning of potential invasion.
It was a horrible storm. Calls for help were made but were unable to be answered due to the severity of the winds and waves. One minute the radio aboard was transmitting then all of a sudden it wend dead. Waves had toppled the massive structure and all men went down. Buried withing the mound of decaying structure on the ocean bottom, the remains of these men rest.
In 2009, the National Weather Service along with the NDBC positioned a 24/7 weather buoy not miles away from the disaster and co-named it the 44066/ Texas Tower 4 in memory of these men and their service to their country. This buoy sent continuous data to the NWS in providing regular ocean forecasts
To read more about this DEWS system and the history of our offshore security see the links below.
Thank you to the men who gave their lives to this country in such a unique and sad way.
Thanks to the USCG and Capt. Kennedy for proactively performing the ceremony of deploying this buoy.