At the top of the world on the coast of Greenland, breaking seas from the Arctic Ocean run thousands miles from Norway to Siberia and onto the Gulf of Alaska.
Greenland is going through a major transformation.
We returned to Greenland after a five-year absence to see what has changed in the magical and mysterious white island.
We discovered a new place — sleepy villages of years past now include high-tech communications, air service to European cities and big tourism. Until recently, travel to Greenland was limited to Soviet fishing trawlers following NATO naval vessels.
Since the 1950s, the United States occupied several military bases on the ice cap and shared defense arrangements with Danish, British and NATO forces. Thule Air Base was established in Greenland and served for many years as a forward U.S. position for defense of North America against the Soviets.
I developed a professional interest in the Arctic as a maritime officer. I have transited both the Northwest and Northeast ocean passages.
The ice melt is now advanced in Greenland, where settlements have community docks under water. A full meltdown of the Greenland Ice Cap would cause world oceans to rise 20 feet.
During one trip, a Canadian officer confused Greenland with Iceland. I told him Greenland was the “enormous white mass while Iceland was known for saunas and the Blue Lagoon.”
Greenland is onethird as large as the continental United States with ice a mile thick covering 90% of the island. A full meltdown of the Greenland Ice Cap would cause all world oceans to rise 20 feet. The ice melt in Greenland is now advanced. Greenland settlements have community docks sitting well under water.
Adding importance to Greenland at the beginning of 2025 is the position of President-elect Donald Trump, who recently stated: “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”
Walter Berbrick, an associate professor at the Naval War College and founding director of the Arctic Studies Group, further clarified the U.S. role in a widely circulated Department of Navy interview Dec. 29:
“Greenland is the linchpin for U.S. national security and the future of the free world,” he said.
What then is the actual U.S history in the frozen continent?
Bluie West One military air field
During the 1940s a U.S. military air base was constructed on the west Greenland coast at the head of a rugged, coastal fjord. The large air base was called Bluie West One.
U.S. military flights to Europe stopped at Bluie West One as the transports did not have the range to fly across the Atlantic. Located north of the town of Narsarsuaq, Bluie West One had a meteorological research station established to predict weather for the entire European continent.
Big changes are occurring in Greenland, where once-sleepy villages are now home to high-tech communications.
Meteorology for the Normandy invasion was detailed at Bluie West One.
Less well-known was the construction of a large military hospital at Bluie West One during the Korean War. The medical facility was known as “Hospital Valley” and was rumored to be populated by wounded Korean War survivors who were unable to return home to the U.S. Hospital Valley was always a closely held, secret installation — no record of the hospital or patients has been declassified.
Camp Century
At the height of the Cold War, the U.S. Army began work on another top-secret base deep on the Greenland Ice Cap.
Camp Century was defined as a “scientific research station.” The real mission of Camp Century was a nuclear weapons launch base — a city under ice with the ability to destroy the Soviet Union.
Nuclear warheads were aimed directly at the Soviets and could strike Moscow in 10 minutes. The missiles of October were armed and prepared to launch from Camp Century and nearly brought us to the brink of all-out war in 1963 during the Cuban missile crisis.
In Palm Beach, an underground Presidential Bunker at Peanut Island Coast Guard Station was constructed by U.S. Navy battalions during the two-week period before the crisis, sparked when the U.S. discovered that the Soviet Union has placed missiles in Cuba.
The Peanut Island Bunker was designed and built to protect President Kennedy from a “first salvo” nuclear strike. A U.S. Navy submarine was stationed offshore Lake Worth Inlet at all times when Kennedy was resident in Palm Beach. The Navy submarine was under orders to wait to evacuate the president until ambient radiation levels had dropped to safe levels and Kennedy could be moved to an alternate command center.
Camp Century was designed as the first step for total war against the Soviet Union, where the U.S. would dominate the battlespace. At the beginning of 2025, the Danish government is pressing the United States for removal of the underground tunnel structures of Camp Century. Satellite imagery shows the nuclear reactor may be intact.
Today we see both Greenland and Palm Beach playing a major role in international security events.
Greenland sits at the top of the world, bridging the sea lanes and connecting communications networks spanning the globe. Greenland is clearly entering a new era while Palm Beach is said to be “the center of the political world.”
Much of the current history may have been framed some 60 years ago right here in Palm Beach.
Bradford Gary is a Palm Beach resident.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Greenland has gone from a Cold War secret to a climate change worry
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Publish date : 2025-01-04 02:11:00
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