The Camp David Communications Detachment (Cannonball)-revised

 

Experiences at Cannonball
Our House near LeMasters PA (2009)
Type Of Activity	Experiences while at Cannonball
Location
Location	Mercersburg Pa
Date of Activity	Mar 1967 to Jun 1970
Coordinates	+39.648333N  -77.466667 W

17 March 1967 to Cannonball a Remote Communications Facility

I spent many days and nights at Cannonball in the mid 60's. Two Microwave repairmen stationed at Camp David went TDY for a week at a time to Cannonball a microwave repeater tower which was located on a 2600 ft peak (Cross Mountain) near Mercersburg Pa. On Monday morning they would leave Camp David with enough groceries for a week’s stay in a concrete silo. There were no windows in the nine-floor structure so unless you went down to the entrance and went outdoors you had no idea of what the weather was like outside. There were two people permanently assigned to the facility (Terry Fields and Al Jensen) and when they went home in the evening, they were left without transportation at night, so keeping yourself occupied was a real challenge. Nobody knew what went on during nights and weekend when the guys were left alone and to this day almost nobody has incremented themselves.

I remember a Radio Tech at Det 3 that volunteered to go up there a couple times so he could go hunting "after hours"? He always had venison in his freezer. l knew many people did hunt during deer season! We wore bright colored clothing and made lots of noise when we went outside!! A hunt club presently owns the property including the access road.

 In March of 1967 I was permanently assigned to a microwave relay site named Cannonball.  It was ironic because, it was located on Cross Mountain, near Mercersburg Pennsylvania.  Joanne and I initially rented an old farmhouse in LeMasters, Pa. we lived their approximately six months and then moved down the road about mile. Nothing could have prepared my wife, Joanne for the isolation she would have to experience when I was given this assignment.  The town we lived near, LeMasters had a population of 26 people, the downtown consisted of a bank, general store and a grain elevator and our next-door neighbors were Mennonite.  Every Sunday there would be quite a bit of horse and buggy traffic as they went to church. Joanne was a city girl, born and raised in Chicago and never went more than 100 miles in any direction before we were married, she did not drive because she never needed transportation and you talk about living in the boonies. LeMasters had a population of 26 people, and we were four of those people.

LeMasters Pa (1967)

There was a pistol range at the back of Camp David; we qualified with 38 cal. pistols at that range. When I took over at Cannonball I became the Site Crypto Custodian, which meant that I had to qualify with the 38. Over the years we had loads of fun with the air transport crews and sky marshals all because we were carrying concealed weapons against air travel regulations. With every other flight being hijacked to Cuba, I can understand why they were so touchy.

7 Sep 67 to Lemoyne PA to AT&T 1A1 Key Telephone Training

The telephone system utilized at Cannonball tower was a 1A1 Key System since I knew nothing about the 1A1, and I was responsible for the installation and repair of new and existing equipment I attended training at the AT&T Training Center in Lemoyne PA. 

The three week course covered the Key Service Unit (KSU), power supply, and various telephone sets used in the system.  This training would turn out to be very valuable as I would re-cable or rewire the system several times before we closed the tower in 1970 and the system was removed.

Typical Six Button Rotary Dial Telephone Set

1A1 KSU Key Service Unit

Chuck Duval a friend of ours married a girl that he met at that secretarial school in Hagerstown, he and his wife Barbra lived in Blue Ridge Summit right next to the US Post Office. This is where we rented an apartment for a couple of months while we were waiting for housing at Camp David to open up.

The old Post Office in Blue Ridge Summit PA

We were living in LeMasters Pa. at this time. Chuck and Barb had a party at their apartment shortly after they were married and of course Dale Anderson and all of the guy's from Camp David attended, well around midnight we decided to leave the wives who were playing cards and go down to get a drink at the Monterey Tea House.  We had to cross in front of the post office in order to get to where our cars were parked, well one thing led to another and the next thing that I knew Chuck had been attached to the flag pole and Dale with some help had raised him to the Top and tied him off.  We all had a good laugh and slowly lowered him to the ground. As we were walking to the cars to leave, two cars of men drove in and blocked our retreat. They all belonged to the Blue Ridge Summit Auxiliary Police Department and told us that someone had reported that we were trying to break in to the Post Office.  After some fast talking and that Chuck lived next door, they told us to keep the noise down and left. No wonder Mr. Horst felt like he was running a loony bin!

Our neighbors knew that I worked for the Government but never asked where.  The people that lived around Mercersburg and Greencastle thought that Cannonball was a water tower.  Our families knew that I was with the White House and did visit us but never knew any details of what went on at Cannonball or Camp David. All they ever knew was that I had something to do with communications and that I traveled a lot with the President and VP.  Our friendships were pretty much with the Seabee’s (Al Jensen and Bud Evans) both assigned to Cannonball and some of the WHCA people that I worked with from Camp David. 

At home in LeMasters PA

Our daughter, Kathie was born in Chambersburg Pa. on Jan 8, 1969, and because of a flu outbreak the hospital would not allow visitors. I was only able to take the kids as far as the parking lot to see Joanne and wave to her at her room window.  We first saw Kathie when we brought her and Joanne home from the hospital!

The Crosses (1968) 

Bob with Kathie (1969)

18 May 69 to Norfolk VA for technical training of an HF Radio System        

I was sent to the Naval Training Center in Norfolk VA for training on the URT-23, which was a single sideband HF radio transceiver. WHCA was in the Process of adding this system to all overseas packages and needed qualified technicians. I was there for ten days and for the first time since I was assigned to WHCA I was required to wear uniforms. WHCA would widely use these whenever long-range communications were required and would be included in the CCT’s standard equipment package!

URT 23-A Overseas Trip Package

In the spring of 1969, we decided to move into an apartment in Greencastle, PA., the house that we were living in had only two bedrooms and with the arrival of Kathie we needed more room.

Antrim Apartments in Greencastle Pa. (1969)

We Learned that Al Jensen our Navy Seabee was being transferred, Bud Evans would replace Al in July of 1969.  Bud and his family would end up renting the apartment directly above ours in Greencastle.

We were in the middle of several major construction projects at the Tower that kept us busy the remainder of the year. First Project was to resurface the access road on Cross Mountain leading to Cannonball. There were also plans to add guard rail in multiple locations along the access road. This was really appreciated by all of whom had to plow snow in the wintertime as there had been several close calls in the past.

We also completed construction on an 80ft tubular tower with a new Log Periodic HF antenna to increase our capabilities as the Remote Transmitter site For Cactus. We also installed a 4 port Multi-coupler that would allow us to use several transmitters to simultaneously use this new antenna.

The final and largest project was the shock mounting of the entire tower! Several things took place, steel reinforced walls were added to the elevator shaft on all floors and the Air Handling (AC) units were all remounted on an angle iron plat form and hung on springs from the ceiling on all floors. The final step we needed to do was to temporally move all our operational equipment, so a platform could be built and suspended by large springs on every floor. Once the new suspended floor was completed, we then reinstalled all the equipment on the platform. All this was completed while the traffic on our microwave routes was uninterrupted.

Agnew Fund raiser in Phoenix AZ

When the shock mount project was complete, I started to travel again, this time supporting the Vice President. When I returned home from a trip with VP Agnew to Phoenix AZ, I found out that we were going to close Cannonball. We knew that we were going to be transferred, but didn’t know where. A couple of months later we were told, San Clemente CA. the Western White House!