Last updated: February 13, 2026
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Ronald Kacsmar
NPS Photo
Oral History Interview with Ronald Kacsmar Civilian employee working with Nike Missiles 1962-1972
Interviewed by Billy Yirce, Monmouth University student intern
September 14, 2003
Transcribed by Mary Rasa 2010
Editor’s notes in parenthesis ( )
Billy Yirce: This is an oral history interview of Ronald Kacsmar taking place on September 14, (2003) at Sandy Hook National Park. First off, when and where were you born?
Ronald Kacsmar: Bayonne, New Jersey. July 3, 1937.
Billy Yirce: And how did you end up coming to work around Fort Hancock and the other Nike sites?
Ronald Kacsmar: Well, I was in the Army.
Billy Yirce: Okay.
Ronald Kacsmar: The Army on the Nike Ajax and Nike Hercules systems. I joined the Army and they sent me to Fort Bliss. Learned the system there. Went through the (Nike) Ajax School. Went through the Hawk (Missile) School. And then they dropped the Hawk and we went to the Nike Hercules School. I was at Fort Bliss for 18 months training for the Nike sites. And after that I was on McGregor Range (New Mexico) teaching the troops and setting up systems and firing. And after that they put packages together for Tooley, Greenland to install systems. So, there were three, three sets of packages going out: one to Formosa, Thailand, one to Alaska and one to Tooley, Greenland. We went up to Tooley, Greenland to install systems up there.
Billy Yirce: How was it up there?
Ronald Kacsmar: Oh, it was cold. It was no place you want to be.
Billy Yirce: Yeah. I could only imagine. What did you, did you know anything about this area, about the whole thing before you joined the Army?
Ronald Kacsmar: No.
Billy Yirce: Nothing about it. Do you remember anything specific about when you were serving here and when you arrived at Fort Hancock doing work?
Ronald Kacsmar: Specifically?
Billy Yirce: Yeah.
Ronald Kacsmar: We did a lot of work here because the systems always needed maintaining.
Billy Yirce: But what was your job then? What was your specific job?
Ronald Kacsmar: Mine was radar. I worked the IFC (Integrated Fire Control, also known as the Radar Site) area which is those vans here plus the Hi-powered radar (HIPAR Tower) that sat over there (referring to its location at the IFC area at Fort Hancock). We worked with anything to do with radar.
Billy Yirce: Okay.
Ronald Kacsmar: Acquisition Radar, Battery Control Van, the RC Van which is Target Tracking, Target Missile Tracking and Target Ranging and the Hi-Powered Radar which was the big one. So that’s….
Billy Yirce: Anytime anything went wrong you came in?
Ronald Kacsmar: They called us in case they couldn’t fix it on-site. And we…
Billy Yirce: They’d send you right in.
Ronald Kacsmar: Any of the sites that ringed around New York.
Billy Yirce: Did your job…what did you go onto doing after that? Or did you do that your whole career?
Ronald Kacsmar: Well, I worked on that until 1972. Then they closed the place down.
Billy Yirce: They shut it down.
Ronald Kacsmar: We closed down a couple of these sites and then the maintenance organization at Camp Kilmer was closed. I closed that out and after that I got a job at Fort Monmouth.
Billy Yirce: Oh, okay. Now, did you ever spend a night here or just in and out when you were doing your jobs fixing stuff and you just bounced out of here?
Ronald Kacsmar: No. 8 hour shifts. We would be here at night, morning, you know. You mean spend the night overnight? Maybe once or twice.
Billy Yirce: Nothing long term?
Ronald Kacsmar: No.
Billy Yirce: Did you ever go to the beach when you came here?
Ronald Kacsmar: Sure. All the time.
Billy Yirce: Which beach did you go to? Do you remember?
Ronald Kacsmar: Yeah. The one up there it used to be the Officers’ Beach over there by the Fort.
Billy Yirce: Yeah.
Ronald Kacsmar: We used to go to the Officers’ Club for lunch.
Billy Yirce: Do you still keep in touch with any of the guys that you worked with?
Ronald Kacsmar: Yeah. Ron Hyers.
Billy Yirce: Okay.
Ronald Kacsmar: The rest of them are all retired, gone onto something. I don’t know where any of them are anymore. Very few… the only reason Ron Hyers is because he works at Fort Monmouth. I see him down there.
Billy Yirce: Okay, do you still live in the area?
Ronald Kacsmar: Eatontown.
Billy Yirce: Okay. Good for you. Do you remember anything specific that you want to share from your experience working with the radar sites? Or anything?
Ronald Kacsmar: When the Cuban Missile Crisis went.
Billy Yirce: What was that like?
Ronald Kacsmar: Well, everything had to be up.
Billy Yirce: Everything.
Ronald Kacsmar: Everything had to be up. This place was on 24 hour “A” status and everything else. We came to fix it whatever it was and we got the heck out. Of course, and then they shut the gates and everybody that had to lived down here.
Billy Yirce: Clearance.
Ronald Kacsmar: No, they lived here. Gun operators, the maintenance people they all lived here. The only time we were called is if it (the Nike system) went down. But they kept the systems up and maintained. A lot of times they used to run up to us, up to the maintenance shop for parts (located at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey). We used to fix them. We had systems up there to repair all the modules. And they were like, I forget what they called them anymore, all these (inaudible) you used to see they used to bring them up there and we put them into system simulate. Everything would have holes and we used to fix them and repair them and give them back to them.
Billy Yirce: Okay. Now what do you think of the radar stuff they use now? How much different is that?
Ronald Kacsmar: Phew. About ten years ago I got involved in some radar, some new radar stuff. Because when I went to Fort Monmouth, I worked in the Signal School. I got to see different things and then about ten years ago I got to see the new radars especially. And they are all solid states and all small and everything else. It’s that I hadn’t really bothered.
Billy Yirce: What have you been doing since you retired?
Ronald Kacsmar: Flying a desk. Doing desk work. (laughter)
Billy Yirce: Good for you then.
Ronald Kacsmar: Working on a computer. (I) can’t climb these towers like it used to be.
Billy Yirce: Did you ever go to the city a lot when you were working in the area? Since you worked on the east coast and the New York area did you guys ever take…?
Ronald Kacsmar: I’m from Bayonne.
Billy Yirce: So did you go to the city a lot?
Ronald Kacsmar: I used to work in New York City when I got out of high school.
Billy Yirce: Oh, did you. What did you do there?
Ronald Kacsmar: Went to college over there, Brooklyn Polytech. I worked downtown New York, John Street as an engineering draftsman.
Billy Yirce: Oh, okay.
Ronald Kacsmar: So, I joined the Army.
Billy Yirce: What made you join the Army?
Ronald Kacsmar: Got tired of sitting at a drafting desk. (laughter) One day I went down there and said, “What have you got?” I don’t know. Everybody was joining the Army or Navy or
something. So I went down to Whitehall Street and joined down there. They gave me tests and said they would send me to school at Fort Bliss.
Billy Yirce: All right. I think that is about it. Thank you for your interview.
END OF INTERVIEW