Battery Russell, a two-gun cannon emplacement at Ft. Stevens at the mouth of the Columbia River. Its active status protecting the entry of the river dates from 1903-44; it’s a state park now. This, and one other closet appear to have the only stairs upward and to the open top of the battery. A Japanese submarine actually fired about 17 rounds into the area during WWII.
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I love this photo. Its emptiness is surreal.
I can feel the damp loneliness of this duty station…
Exactly, Dawn and Denny. It was a hot, blue, cloudless sky outside. Inside, it was everything you can conjure from your words. I could not imagine any extended time in this place. The Army apparently felt the same way. They rotated people in and out every few days, according to the literature.