Using the First State as a representative example for all three American shorelines, Delaware’s Ghost Towers reveals how the mysterious World War 2 concrete sentinels standing along Delaware’s ocean beaches were used to guard against penetration by powerful German battleships bent on shelling Philadelphia and the oil refineries of Wilmington. The book tells the story of the nearly forgotten Coast Artillery soldiers, who were the front-line, standing a combat-ready watch during the anxious early months of the war, when the first invasion of the Homeland since the War of 1812 was considered a frightening real possibility. From a slow start during neglectful pre-war days, the Coast Artillery grew to operate the US’ most heavily armed installations, pointing the Army’s biggest guns of the war out to sea. Their mission is described against a background of surrounding World War 2 events, German naval and commando operations in US waters and on US beaches - an important Last Stand worth remembering.

Military historian Bill Grayson is formally trained as a USAF Intelligence Officer. He served as Commander and as Operations Officer of Air Force Signals Intelligence, Counterintelligence, and Operations Security units in Europe and South Vietnam, and served three tours at the National Security Agency as a Cryptologic Staff Officer and as the Chief of Transmission Security overseeing all DoD joint service programs. After completing his Air Force career, Bill joined the US Department of Commerce as a Telecommunications Specialist/Team Chief securing the computers and communications of whole federal civil agencies across the US and in Latin America.

Following his service at Commerce, Bill was a Senior Security Engineering Consultant with leading aerospace defense contractors and Federally Funded R&D Contractors in Washington. In that capacity,
He was an Information Systems security architect of very large computer networks of NASA, and the Defense, Treasury, Justice, and Transportation Departments and performed special activities for the White House, Air Force One, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, NATO and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In support of Homeland Security, he supported US Coast Guard Port Vulnerability studies on all three coasts and contributed to a White House study of the distribution of intelligence among federal, state, local, and tribal jurisdictions. .Bill holds BA and MS degrees and is a student of six foreign languages. He is a Certified Computer Systems Security Professional, an Operations Security Certified Professional, and has completed the requirements for professionalization in Communications Security. Bill is a member of the Coast Defense Study Group, the Fort Miles Historical Association, the Air Force Association, the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Freedom Through Vigilance Association, the Tan Son Nhut (Vietnam) Association, RAF Chicksands Alumni, the Military Officers Association, and the NSA Phoenix Society. He is an appointed member of his hometown’s Public Safety Committee. Bill lives and works in the Maryland suburbs of Washington and is a frequent visitor to the Delaware seashore.