Driving across the desert of Northern Nevada, sand, scrub, sky and no cellphone service merge together in the expanse of space that is the American West.
Rolling through the Walker Indian Reservation we pass rows of mysterious looking concrete buildings near Hawthorne. Discovering that these buildings and their role in history, provide the reason for Hawthorne's claim to be America's most patriotic town comes as a surprise. Often we hear in the media about the bombing of other places during wars, but rarely do we think where and how and where bombs are made. The near windowless huts we drove by are part of this nation's bomb-making capacity. For more than 40 years, hundreds of thousands of bombs and other munitions have been made here.
In the mid-day sun, the town seems deserted as a slight breeze catches the dozen or so American flags hanging from businesses and homes. The people of Hawthorne, population 3,000, are proud to have carved out a small piece of American history through their association with the ordnance depot, which is the town's largest employer. The second largest employer is a casino.
Along the strip of highway that cuts through the center of town is the Hawthorne Ordnance Museum. The former car dealership turned museum displays bombs, torpedoes, mines, and other weapons.
A mine greets visitors to the Hawthorne Ordnance Museum.
It's easy to forget that places like Hawthorne exist when you live so far removed, politically and physically, from the historical contingencies and necessities that war presents.
Larry Montgomery moved to Hawthorne to build bombs in 1956 after a stint in the Navy. Montgomery worked at the depot for more than 40 years. He now spends his time as co-founder of the museum, greeting strangers who wander in off the streets.
Larry Montgomery
The drive through the desert and the visit to the museum brings to light how diverse this nation really is. What we learn, then, is how people come to define themselves not only by what they do for a living, but through the connections they make with a place over time. The notion of patriotism, in the case of Hawthorne, Nevada, is interesting because of the relationships formed between the government's war efforts and the people that make that the effort possible.