Army Ground Forces Association - Bringing History to Life
Anyone who visits Battery Gunnison/New Battery Peck on Sandy Hook won’t be disappointed, especially if you are fortunate enough to interact with the dedicated and enthusiastic members of the Army Ground Forces Association (AGFA). Even though the interior of the battery is not yet open to the public, AGFA members will happily engage with passersby during their outside work sessions.
A focal point of their work is the restoration of Battery Gunnison/New Battery Peck at Fort Hancock, made possible with support and guidance from the National Park Service. Army Ground Forces Association currently is a members-driven, public charity and National Park Service Partner organization, currently with 48 members who hail from NJ, NY, NH, OK, PA, and CA. Not all members have military service experience, but many do. In common is the shared desire to commemorate and recognize the heroic efforts of the World War II generation, in memory of the over half a million Americans who died for our country. At Fort Hancock, public education is achieved through the use of restoration of the battery and preservation and interpretation through the medium of living history.
To enter the battery is to take a step back in time. The smallest details have been attended to, such as era-appropriate music playing on the radio and AGFA members dressed in clothing adhered to by strict organization guidelines following the Army regulations of the WWII time period. Even the coffee is poured from a pre-WWII era pot. A concession to modern times is the Dolmeyer Coffee from Munich, Germany, to ensure a serious coffee experience. Otherwise, everything is authentic.
Large scale restoration projects either underway or completed by AGFA members, who do the majority of the work themselves, include significant problem solving, locating accurate historical resources, and using innovation and intelligence when attempting to marry the old with the new. A major project has been the restoration of the entire Corps of Engineers 1915 standard electric system inside the battery. To achieve historical accuracy in the process of determining the location for the components of the electrical fixtures and cabling, AGFA used several sources. One source was the original drawings from 1905, then the conversation drawings from 1943, showing electrical detail for the plotting room and the chemical warfare room, and another is actually matching bolt hole patterns on the walls and ceilings to the fixtures themselves.
The installation of the electric system moved as fast as the restoration of fixtures progressed. All of the fixtures that we obtained required significant cleaning and restoration. Most required re-wiring. An effective way to integrate the historic fixtures with modern flexible metal PVC covered conduit had to be determined. We discovered the modern connectors could be used with these 100 year old fixtures by inserting them inside the large closure nut and applying large rubber washers inside. The historic fixture connectors are concave inside and when the historic nut is tightened, the modern connector with the heavy washers effectively seals the fixture. See the full document on the AGFA website here.
As AGFA focuses on fortifications in general, they have worked on more than Battery Gunnison/New Battery Peck. They have restored the 14-inch gun turret test site near North Beach. They are also restoring platform lighting fixtures from 9-gun battery and are preparing to execute another major project by installing a vintage electrical system into the Mortar Battery which, during WWII, was the Harbor Defense Command Post for all of New York Harbor. Army Ground Forces Association also advised and supported Monmouth County Parks in their restoration of Battery Lewis, a massive 16-inch gun battery overlooking Fort Hancock at Hartshorne Woods Park, and AGFA is recognized on the commemoration plaque at Battery Lewis.
Projects are selected based on what can be done and what is most important to do for preservation and interpretive purposes at Fort Hancock, in consonance with the NPS General Management Plan. Army Ground Forces Association’s other projects at Battery Gunnison/New Battery Peck include restoration of the chemical warfare system (the system that protected the plotting room against poison gas), restoration of hoist #1 (the mechanism that moved the shells to the gun platform, acquisition of powder cans and the powder can rack system/interpreting powder storage in the battery), the counterweight project (balancing the gun to allow for elevation/depression during gun drills), reconstruction of the range board and operators platform (showing how range data was transmitted to the guns), and gun #1 platform expansion joint restoration (long term concrete preservation and visitor safety). Much of this work can be reviewed in reports here.
Fort Hancock, which technically encompasses the entire Sandy Hook peninsula, features one of the most complete US Army harbor defense systems still in existence. When you ascend the concrete stairs to the top of one of Battery Gunnison/New Battery Peck’s two gun platforms, you will find one of only two fully articulating guns in the United States, both being restored by AGFA members. A full loading demonstration of the gun system requires 28 members acting in concert from the magazine to the gun platform to complete the complicated drills to load the gun system.
Member Paul Cusano is a semi-retired psychiatrist and former R.O.T.C. student at St. Peter’s College. At the Battery, he portrays a Corporal. Paul joined AGFA after attending Coastal Artillery Day at Fort Hancock. As a self-described “history hound,” the experience led him to pursue membership with AGFA, as the interpretive model allows Paul to work with his hands, since he likes to do manual things. During more formal events, such as 1943 Christmas at History House, he portrays a Captain (medical doctor) and informs the public of the work of the Army Medical Corps at Fort Hancock during WWII.
Member Tom Morrison plays the role of T5 Corporal who, together with his dog Winston, (a Staff Sergeant), engage visitors with the wag of a tail and verbal description of the process to receive range data at the guns.Using the blackboard at the top of the platform, Tom records elevation data communicated from the plotting room by telephone. The battery structure has a working WWII period telephone system used by AGFA members to communicate during public events or work days.
Young member Callum Budjos was introduced to AGFA while visiting Fort Hancock with his father. For Callum, the excitement is getting to work on the historic equipment found at Battery Gunnison/New Battery Peck. Callum also supports the Info-Age museum at Camp Evans near Seagirt, NJ.
Shawn Welch, a retired Army Engineer Officer, is a board member of AGFA. Shawn retired from the Army in 2014 while stationed in the Pentagon after 31 years of service. His final duty assignment was Deputy Director for Infrastructure on the Army Staff. Among many other jobs, Shawn is in charge of AGFA projects requiring compliance, and also serves as Co-Chair of the Fort Hancock 21st Century Federal Advisory Committee (FACA) at Sandy Hook. This committee is tasked with providing advice to the Secretary of the Interior, through the Superintendent of Gateway National Recreation Area, on the development of a reuse plan and other matters relating to future uses of the significant historic structures within Fort Hancock National Historic Landmark District.. Shawn is grateful to the National Park Service at Sandy Hook, whose Unit Coordinator, Pete McCarthy, has opened many doors for accomplishing historic restoration, preservation, and interpretation of Fort Hancock’s nationally significant harbor defense fortifications. As a result, AGFA is viewed as a national resource for interpretive groups focused on WWII period harbor defenses from all over the country. Always open to new members, more information about the Army Ground Forces Association can be found on their website.
Once all of Sandy Hook is fully reopened to the public, plan your visit around an AGFA interpretive event weekend at Battery Gunnison/New Battery Peck and expect to experience full immersion into Army life at Fort Hancock during World War II.
