Fire Control Tower 23 Focus of Armed Forces Day Tribute

SUNSET BEACH – Over 100 veterans, including some from World War II, and their families, gathered May 16 to observe Armed Forces Day across Sunset Boulevard from Fire Control Tower 23, a restored lookout tower that guarded the Delaware Bay from German submarines and other intruders during World War II.
Hosted by Mid Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanity, Inc. with Robert Heinly as master of ceremonies and speaker, the event was the seventh, according to Dr. MIchael Zuckerman, director of MAC. Others who spoke included Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-1st) and Assemblyman Robert Andrzejczak (D-1st), and a representative from Assembly Samuel Fiocchi’s office. Lower Township Mayor Michael Beck and Deputy Mayor Norris Clark also spoke.
Larry Hume, whose late father Marvin Hume, was famed for the sunset ceremonies held with veterans’ casket flags, spoke of his father’s love of country, and how he stressed the importance of patriotism. Hume previously said those sunset ceremonies will continue. They nightly attract hundreds to Sunset Boulevard’s western end.
The tower, restored in a $1 million project, had been a mystery to him, he told the crowd, until he began to research its importance in the area’s history of World War II. The tower served as a lookout for German submarines and other intruders.
Certificates of appreciation were presented to all World War II veterans in attendance. Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton reminded that that war ended 70 years ago. While over 12 million served in the military during that war, Thornton said about 1 million remain today.
More on the tower from MAC’s website:
Fire Control Tower No. 23 is New Jersey’s last remaining restorable World War II tower, part of the immense Harbor Defense of the Delaware system known as Fort Miles, playing a major part in coastal defenses. Built in 1942, the tower was one of 15 towers that helped aim batteries of coastal artillery, stretching from North Wildwood, to Bethany Beach, Del.
Four were in Cape May County, the towers located in North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest were torn down and a third tower is located inside Cape May’s Grand Hotel, Beach and Philadelphia avenues. Fire Control Tower No. 23 is on land now part of the Cape May Point State Park. The tower was listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places on May 29, 2003 and on the National Register on Nov. 17, 2003.
The Tower was restored in 2008-09 by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities (MAC).
The project included: building spiral staircases in the Tower so that the public can safely climb to the top; construction of a wooden walkway from the street to the Tower, and a deck around its base, to preserve the fragile dune environment; replacing the missing windows and doors; recreating historical details, such as the original wooden ladders, and outfitting the watch room and viewing platform at the top; installing interpretive panels along the walkway and at every level in the Tower; introducing lighting and safety alarms; and upgrading the existing parking lot across Sunset Boulevard and connecting it with a cross-walk to the Tower. Robert Russell of Holt Morgan Russell was the restoration architect.
This project was funded by three agencies that awarded MAC grants totalling $1.3 million: the New Jersey Historic Trust, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority and the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.
The 3rd level of the Tower features a “Wall of Honor” with then-and-now photographs of over 100 area World War II veterans. In 2012, an “All Veterans Memorial” was erected on the deck at the base of the Tower.
The boardwalk, lined with interpretive panels, the All Veterans Memorial on the deck at the base of the Tower and the entry level are all fully accessible.
MAC is also mounting permanent Memorial Plaques in the Tower that will allow family members to honor veterans of any war or engagement. Click HERE for a downloadable order form.