The WWII structures interspersed throughout Buskin River State
Recreation Site were once part of Fort Greely. Fort Greely was a large
U.S. army post built during World War II to help defend the continental
U.S. from invasion by the Japanese. Little is left of the Fort Greely
cantonment area; older naval base buildings were replaced with modern
housing for the Kodiak U.S. Coast Guard base, the largest Coast Guard
operation and support base in the world today.
Later, it was recognized that Fort Greely’s coastal defenses had been
built on land with exceptional recreational and developmental value and
the Buskin beach area was transferred to the Bureau of Land Management
in 1975. Buskin River State Recreation Site was created on the southern
portion of Buskin Hill near the location of the earliest World War II
mobile armaments. This property is owned by the Coast Guard and is
currently on long-term lease to the State of Alaska. (excerpt from "The
Kodiak Coastal Defense System at Fort Greely During WWII")
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