SCOUTING YESTERDAY | Nuclear missile once kept Soviets at bay, now part of historic site

This week in South Dakota history: June 12–18

Delta-09 Minuteman II missile at Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. (National Park Service photo)

Hundreds of intercontinental ballistic missiles housed in the plains of western South Dakota helped keep the Cold War cold, on the ready to launch nuclear warheads at a moment’s notice.

But 25 years ago this week, the Air Force crews installing a missile at silo Delta-09 weren’t upgrading the arsenal — they were adding the newest artifact to the developing Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, according to the June 15, 2001, edition of the Rapid City Journal.

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