News
The forgotten history of the U.S.’s Cold War presence in Greenland
The villagers of Uummannaq were given just four days to leave their homes.
It was the spring of 1953, the Cold War was nearing its peak and the United States had set its sights on this remote Greenlandic settlement more than 700 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The broad plain at the edge of the ice sheet was viewed as the ideal spot for an expanded Air Force base to defend against Soviet missiles. But the 116 civilians living nearby would have to go.