The Pillbox

This is called a pillbox.  It was constructed by the Army on top of the bluff on the south side of the Montauk Point Lighthouse during World War II.  Personnel were stationed inside to keep watch over the ocean for enemy vessels.  Most of this structure was buried and a small part was above ground with a slit in the ocean-facing side, so soldiers could keep watch.  It would be very difficult to see from at ship at sea because it would have had camouflage around it as well.

This is a second piece of the pillbox.  For years, when I would visit Montauk Point, I would see the rectangular part of the pillbox in the first photograph, in the ocean just beyond the stone revetment at the bottom of the cliff.  For years since WW II It was up above the ocean on the top of the bluff but in 1976 it was hanging dangerously above the beach below. So here's the cool part...  The Coast Guard, which ran the lighthouse, used high power fire hoses to flush out the remaining sand an soil around the pillbox, causing it to topple to the beach, where it remained until it was lifted back up on top of the cliff in 2021 so there would be room to add the new rocks and boulders to extend the revetment I showed you the other day.  I cannot imagine what they used to get that box back up to where it is now!

It is wonderful, however ,that these pieces are back up on top of the cliff so we can see what they look like.  You can see that these pillboxes , with thick concrete and reinforcement rods were designed to withstand attacks by guns, and perhaps smaller artillery.  Not something that I would like to be in if someone was shooting at me, however.  You should know, however, that there was one case of, believe it or not, a submarine putting three spies ashore in a small boat and they managed to get a Long Island Railroad train from somewhere out east, and managed to get to New York City, before they were caught!  Thats why it was so important to have lookouts watching day and night for any ship activity.