Nike Missile Site LA-04 Mt Gleason CA - PHOTOS - Silo Catfish Exterior

Mt. Gleason's three underground missile storage silos were code named Alpha, Bravo, and Catfish. All three of them have distinct expressive an designs which were painted by enlisted men at the site. As one descends into each underground silo, the entrance doors to the storage magazine have an identical leopard-like animal on their surfaces. These paintings appear to have been stenciled onto the door, as each drawing is the same and no stylistic variations exist. As one descends into silo Bravo, a bright red and green shield is painted on opposite walls about half-way down the stairway. These shields represent a stylized version of a military emblem that appears on the rear stabilizing fins of each NIKE missile. (Army Info Digest, March 1956, V. II, No, 3, photo of missile, p. 3.) The design reflects an original military emblem in its depiction of a white NIKE missile placed in the center of the shield.

As one descends into silo Catfish, an elaborate series of paintings flank each stairway wall. The paintings portray many individual soldiers who presumably worked at the site. Some paintings depict soldiers in full uniform down to their nametag. Many are humorous cartoon-like figures. Exaggerated features or short phrases such as "I drink milk" reflect personality traits or poke fun at various sides of military life. Some of the drawings are incomplete showing only the soldier's black boots. One can speculate that the artist was painting these pictures in the early 1970s and did not finish due to deactivation of the Mt. Gleason site in 1974.

Members of Battery A (Alpha), 2d Msl. Bn., 65th ADA left their mark above ground at the launch site. Alpha launcher section crewmen painted a large ALFA sign in big black letters to draw attention to their record during annual service practices. The soldiers recorded their drill scores next to the big ALFA sign: 96.2% in April 1973 and 95.5% in October 1973. Alpha crewmen painted pictures of tombstones for Sections B and C on the exterior underground storage pit door as a reminder of Alpha's record. Written on each tombstone is R.I.P. for "rest in peace." These drawings presumably were done in late 1973 after the drills took place and before April 1974 when dismantling of the site began. The large "Alfa" marker is extant today; the tombstones, however, have been painted over.