Mark Macedonia
On the subject of the horrific events of 9/11/01 in which terrorists used passenger aircraft to bring down the World Trade Center’s two towers in New York City, severely damage the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and nearly strike the U.S. Capitol building—if not for the courageous actions of passengers aboard ill-fated United Airlines Flight 93—these attacks were not the first foreign strikes delivered on United States’ soil. The Japanese attack on December 7, 1941, against United States Navy, Army, and Air Forces installations in Pearl Harbor is just as well-known, falling into the category of an attack on American soil as Hawaii was a U.S. territory at the time. The other well-documented historic assault on the United States were the military operations by Great Britain during the War of 1812. These events were most remembered by the burning of our nation’s capital by British soldiers in August of 1814.
Yet another less famous attack on American soil is not as well-known. On July 30, 1916, during the height of World War I, two German agents planted explosives among the munition’s depot on Black Tom Island in New York harbor. The ammunition, explosives, and artillery shells stored on the island were scheduled to be shipped to France and Great Britain to aid them in their fight against Germany. The massive explosion that ensued killed four people while virtually destroying the island and blowing out windows across Manhattan. In addition, the explosion severely damaged the Statue of Liberty on nearby Bedloe’s Island (known today as Liberty Island). This is why the access to the Statue of Liberty’s torch has been closed to tourists since 1916. As for Black Tom Island, in the 1920s landfill was added to the site and the peninsula is now located in Jersey City and is called Liberty State Park. The attack in July of 1916 was a historic event that I found to be so compelling, that I used the incident to open the first chapter of my espionage thriller, Silhouettes of the Dark.
