Aegina, Andros, Corfu, Crete, Delos, Rhodes, and Santorini may be among the scores of Greek Islands that come to mind when cherishing fond memories of warm and welcoming getaways in this most special part of the world.
For me, however, there is never a first week of November that goes by that I don’t think about an incredibly special and historical “Greek Island,” that had premier national exposure 28 years ago this week on NBC-TV’s “Dateline” prime time documentary hosted by Stone Phillips.
This “Greek Island” was never intended to be a warm and welcoming place.
In fact, it was nowhere near Greece, nor was it even an island. But it was all too terrifyingly real!
The “Greek Island” indelibly imprinted into my November memory was the code name of a top-secret Cold War (Circa 1960-1990’s) facility that lay underneath The Greenbrier, the legendary, five-star, historic resort in the small town of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
Known to insiders as “The Bunker,” this “island” was carved into the mountain under The Greenbrier during the Eisenhower administration (1959-1961 to be exact) to serve as a refuge for Congress and its key staff members to be able to continue the business of government in event of a nuclear strike on Washington.
The 112,000-square-foot-plus clandestine facility, hewn 700 feet into the granite, was designed to function as a working “Capitol” for up to 60 days following a nuclear hit as close as a quarter of a mile from its epicenter.
The facility was kept DEFCON-1 ready by a dozen “special operatives,” led by Paul “Fritz” Bugas, that surreptitiously posed as Forsythe Associates, an on-site contractor for TV repair and servicing for the management and guests at the resort.
Imbedded in the cavernous structure approximately three-stories tall (and part of which was a “secret in plain sight” as an exhibitors’ hall for corporate and trade associations gatherings) were: meeting rooms (one with 100 seats to house the Senate, and another of 435 seats to accommodate House members), sleeping quarters (metal bunk-bed spartan-style,) a mess hall and kitchen, food storage rooms, infirmary, dental treatment room, communications room housing TV screens accessing all parts of the facility, and a remote controls to raise a 75-foot antenna for contact with the outside world, an armory, a briefing room (with interchangeable backdrops of The Capitol and The White House), a power plant with monster turbines to generate electricity, heating and AC, an incinerator/crematorium, three 15,000-gallon diesel oil storage tanks, and a double-lock NBC (Nuclear, Biologic and Chemical) enclave.
Three, concealed 25-ton, 12 foot wide, 10 foot. high, and 18 inch thick blast doors provided entrance and egress hidden in plain sight for more than 30 years.
And a fourth, retractable blast door was buried in the hillside covering the area for the elevation of the radio antenna.
That secrecy effectively ended in May 1992 when the Washington Post Magazine published a cover story “The Last Resort,” that initially exposed it.
But “the bunker’s reality” wasn’t made official until November 3, 1995, when NBC-TV’s “Dateline” program, hosted by Stone Phillips and produced by Chris Scholl, revealed it in a 20-minute opening segment.
As a member of the marketing team that included Joe Tamney, then CEO of Boyd Tamney Cross Marketing in Wayne, and Sharon Rowe and Pam Ritchie, of The Greenbrier, I was responsible for enlisting “Dateline” that summer and arranging for and helping prepare for that November exclusive.
I vividly recall the first time that I was permitted into the bowels of “the bunker” (after signing an agreement that promised that I would be Leavenworth-bound if I dared to say a word to any unauthorized person about this place) realizing that this was, at the same time, arguably the most fascinating and frightening experience of my career.
During the weeks and months prior to air date, I had multiple opportunities to see every foot of that mammoth mountain cocoon and speak many times with each of the 12 “tv techs” that kept it under wraps and “ready for activation” for more than three decades.
To a person they all believed that the writer of the Post magazine piece, Ted Gup, was a traitor.
Never mind that the DOD hierarchy could have intentionally leaked that story.
Never mind that after 33 years of readiness and regular updating, this facility may have outlived its purpose or life-expectancy, considering the frightening advances made in design and efficiency of nuclear weaponry.
These men, led by Bugas, (who is now 95 and still lives in White Sulphur Springs and golfs at The Greenbrier with the resort’s now retired long-time historian, Dr. Bob Conte) were all patriots that held dear their roles in keeping sacred and secret their own special “Greek Island” in the best interest of national security of their day.
The Bunker, like the resort that hid it, is genuinely like The Greenbrier itself, a one-of-a-kind “Grand Dame!”
(Footnote: In 2015, Garrett Graff, an historian and political journalist, authored a book. “Raven Rock: The US Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself – While the Rest of Us Die” about Cold War bunkers located throughout the US. He included references to the one under The Greenbrier that is now a museum and a popular amenity at the resort).
All told, one may ask “why bring this up again after all these years?’
Two reasons. One is that The Bunker is a unique part of nearby history, and although never (thank goodness!) activated for its intended purpose.
The second is a cautionary tale that we live in an ever more terrifying and fragile world (China, Russia, North Korea, and the brand-new US mega bomb!) so what and where are our “Greek Islands” today… and do they really matter?
The Last Word: Good day, good luck, and good news tomorrow!
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