Southwestern Oklahoma State University history professor Landry Brewer recently placed the same historical marker near Willow in Greer County for the second time.
Brewer, who teaches at SWOSU’s Sayre campus, originally placed the marker in fall 2017, but it was knocked over in fall 2019. Because of delays amid the global pandemic, the marker was just recently restored to its state-approved location beside SH 34/U.S. 283 a mile north/northeast of Willow.
“I’m grateful to Stephen Dock with the Old Greer County Museum and Hall of Fame in Mangum and area resident Jimmy Clark for their help in storing, repairing and re-installing the marker,” Brewer said.
Brewer researched the 12 sites near Altus Air Force Base that housed Atlas F intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) as part of the nation’s Cold War nuclear arsenal in the early 1960s for his book Cold War Oklahoma.
Impressed by what he learned, Brewer applied to the Oklahoma Historical Society for a historical marker to be placed at the Willow missile site, and the OHS granted his request in 2017.
The 12 Altus-area missiles were stored vertically in deep, heavily reinforced underground silos at Willow and 11 other locations. Attached to the 577th Strategic Missile Squadron at Altus Air Force Base between 1962 and 1965, the missiles were designed to deter a Soviet nuclear attack and retaliate if deterrence failed.
Each missile carried a nuclear warhead that was more than 200 times more powerful than the atomic bombs that the U.S. dropped on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. If fired, the missiles could have delivered those nuclear bombs in the Soviet Union in less than 45 minutes.
The other missile launch complexes were located near Lone Wolf, Snyder, Cache, Frederick, Creta, Hollis, Russell, Hobart, Manitou and Granite as well as Fargo, Texas.
All of the Altus-area missiles were placed on alert during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which was the closest that the United States and the Soviet Union came to nuclear war.
“I’m happy to return this marker to its home near Willow to help preserve this part of western Oklahoma’s history and educate the public about the site’s importance in protecting the nation during an exceptionally dangerous time,” Brewer said.