Wishing everyone a very meet holly and jolly Xmas and a wonderful 2012. Another year has gone by and we rejoice for our blessings. Let the new year bring us together again!

Would you like T-Shirts made?

Other ideas and graphics are welcome!

Hello fellow Fort Slocum Alumni!

First, I want to thank you all for being part of the Fort Slocum – Blast from the Past group. As you already may know, we are planning a reunion for the summer of 2012 which we have titled the Fort Slocum Reunion 2012. For some this will be a 50 year reunion and for others a 55 year reunion, for me this will be a 47 year reunion, since I left Fort Slocum in November 1965, just before the base was officially closed. Since then I have wanted to go back and meet with friends, past residents and community advocates with interest in Fort Slocum/Davids Island and to participate with them in some activities of common interest.

We have tentatively as a group, selected the reunion for Thursday, July 05, 2012 to Sunday, July 08, 2012, by majority vote of those who submitted one. The location for convening to this reunion is currently set in the hotel Courtyard Newport Jersey City, NJ, just across the Hudson to NYC, but this isn’t set in stone. The reason for this location, is that is strategically located next door to NJ/NY Transit Systems and can provide us with immediate access to Governors Island Park/Fort Jay, New Rochelle/Fort Slocum, Penn Station/Madison Square Gardens, The Village (NYC), the WTC Memorial Site and the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island National Historic Site.

We have also received a request by Bill Mullen (board member of a New Rochelle local historical association) to have the reunion in New Rochelle and he will try to host us with a tour of New Rochelle’s attractions, reenact a 2009 Fort Slocum Exhibit, point out recommend pubs/restaurants in the immediate area. He has also asked the mayor to help him arrange an tour of Davids Island.  Being that this is becoming a mayor event, I am reevaluating the options, since it would be the best of two worlds, to have the NYC (meeting & landmark tours), and the New Rochelle/Ft Slocum/Davids Island visit. We are I’m sure, very interested in visiting Fort Slocum island itself and I have done the NYC tour staying in Newport, Jersey City, NJ several times, and still love it. I personally love the idea of entertaining ourselves with this reunion and the once in a lifetime opportunity to revisit Fort Slocum with a show of force.

We have received some feedback from a few of the Fort Slocum – A Blast from the Past blogsite members, the Facebook Fort Slocum Friends group, and Mike Cavanaugh’s Fort Slocum Site alumni, but there have been only a couple of confirmations by people sending an RSVP, that they are attending the event. This is absolutely important and necessary in order to obtain some sort of quorum of attendees so that as a formal group we can request hotel group rates, T-Shirts/baseball caps quotations, and other group amenities and paraphernalia of the Fort Slocum – Davids Island July 5, 2012 Reunion. The three aforementioned groups are linked socially and have the same basic interests and similar objectives. Thus far, these groups have virtually been functioning as one consolidated group, composed of about 100 members.

Show your support by letting us know and by confirming your attendance by registering for this grand event submitting your RSVP via the Fort Slocum – A Blast from the Past blogsite. Thanks once again for indulging me with your RSVP, to the 2012 reunion.

Cordially,
Tito Rosario
Fort Slocum Alumni 2012 Reunion Coordinator

This is the latest video I was able to find on Fort Slocum. Its a bit satirical and melancholy at the same time, this person cared enough to visit the island to record this video.

These are photos of artifacts, that were part of the architecture in Ft Slocum buildings.

Life as we knew it!

Fort Slocum, also known as Davids Island, is an island located in Long Island Sound, just off the coast of New Rochelle, NY.  The island is comprised of about 120 acres, some of which is under water during high tide.  Nearby and adjacent islands include Glen Island and Hart Island which is considered a sister island for the dismantled Nike Missile site, which served as protectionto New York City from foreign invasion and attack.

 During the American Civil War the island was a prisoner of war camp for Confederate soldiers.  From 1867 to 1948 Fort Slocum was used again as a prisoner of war camp during World war II , as a General Recruiting Depot, Recruit Training Post, Staging Area and Rehabilitation Center, Artillery Corps Post, Artillery Mortar Post and many other uses.  It was transferred to the Air Force then back to the Army in 1951.  Fort Slocum was home to the U.S. Army Chaplain School, from 1951 to 1962, as well as the assigned military personnel and their dependents and also provided housing and logistical support to the Defense Information School  from 1962 to 1965, when the base was closed.

 In 1965, the base was determined obsolete and declared excess property of the Department of Defense by the Federal Government and the base was closed and slated for eventual disposal.  After that, the property was abandoned and ceded to the City of New Rochelle in 1967.  In 1968, the City of New Rochelle sold the property to Con Edison, who was considering building a nuclear power plant of the island.  Subsequently, Con Edison desisted from the plan and sold the property back to the City of New Rochelle in 1976.  Discussion was developed into converting the island into a park,

Between the periods from 1965 to 2008 the island was subjected to abandonment, neglect, vandalism, and arson.  The structures on the island deteriorated through lack of maintenance, decay and proliferation and random overgrowth of jungle like vegetation that virtually took over whatever structure or debris left on the island.  In 1980 business mogul and property developer Donald Trump originated plans for an exclusive residential and resort complex on the island, but trashed the plans for lack of investors.  Eventually Trump developed a project in the City of New Rochelle and constructed a “Trump Towers” in a rundown area of the city.

The island, for those who had a chance lived, grew up there or had the opportunity experience this jewel of an island and what it brought with it, the thrills, the chills, the happy moments and even sad ones.  The beautifully hot summers with a place to cool off, the trips to the 1964 New York Worlds Fair, The Beatles and the pope in Shea stadium, Jones Beach, the teen clubs in Ft Slocum, Fort Jay, Fort Tilden and Ft. Hamilton, the escapes to New York and to neighboring rock islands, and I could go on. And just when we were grown up and ready to go back…and relive past memories…

Since the advent of the internet, persona websites, ICQ, Facebook and the formation of other social media groups, a group of ex-residents and visitors of Fort Slocum AKA Davids Island banded together to try to save what was left of Fort Slocum, unfortunately, without much success.  The island and the debris was declared environmentally unsafe and the $32M dollars that were allocated to save the island and convert it into a form of historic park fell apart and the money was used by the US Army Corps of Engineers to bulldoze the remaining structures and remove supposedly contaminated soil.  The island is now an inhospitable jungle maze full of poison ivy, briar and haphazardly growing trees, vines and bushes.  Nonetheless, Slocumates still love and hold the island and its inerasable memories embedded deep in their hearts.

Welcome Fort Slocum Alumni friends! I had technical dificulties with the blog site, due to an upgrade of the site. I am working on creating a new Blog in liue of restoration. I repost the Fort Slocum Reunion 2012 information and the voting poll page for the selection of a preferred reunion date.

If you were an original Fort Slocum subscriber, I reentered your old member information username again you should have received a message to the email you had on file for a reset, else you will need to subscribe again, or send me a private message in Facebook with a username and your email and I will send you a member subscrition confirmation.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

Best regards,
Tito Rosario
Army Brat