One of the great things about MARS Associates is being able to relay the memories of some of our members who were around during the early days of the Titan program — when the vehicles were designed to carry warheads between continents, not when they were lifting heavy payloads to orbit.
Bill Bollendonk was part of the team that activated the Titan I ICBM silos at Lowry Air Force Base. Yes, THAT Lowry AFB, the one in Aurora. Where a bustling suburban city exists today, there were a number of Titan I ICBMs that stood ready to defend our nation.
Bill and his son Greg, both MARS members, provided us with a document based on Bill’s recollections of the harrowing early days of the activation of the missiles at Lowry. It is fascinating reading! The document (in PDF format) is embedded below and may take a minute to load. If you don’t see it within a minute, reload it.
Many thanks to Bill and Greg for providing this historical remembrance to MARS Associates for publication.
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