Environmental Memoir: Cape Cod's war wounds

Military ordnance discovered at Marconi Beach on Cape Cod is destroyed in a controlled explosion. /Cape Cod Times image

America's war legacy spread environmental damage to Cape Cod.

Artifacts of war litter the Cape and Islands: bombs dropped and lost in the sandy depths of time from long-forgotten training flights over the beaches, lead bullets and other military refuse penetrating deep in the soil at the former Massachusetts Military Reservation, tainting the groundwater and the Cape's only aquifer, and health complaints against a top-secret radar station.

Abandoned military ordnance discovered at a beach on Martha's Vineyard. /Image via therealcape.com

The U.S. Air Force PAVE PAWS station in Bourne, Mass., is capable of providing early warnings for ballistic missiles. /Cape Cod Times image