From 1951 to 1958 1st Sgt. Edgar Sisk and his family occupied the left half of Building 104, one of the post’s seven duplexes built as NCO quarters. The Sisks brought with them much of the furniture allocated by the Army during their previous stint at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, including a piano that Mrs. Sisk played. During summers their son, Bob, slept in the upstairs sun porch. He lived on the island from age 11 to 18, leaving in 1958. He re-visited the island after 47 years in 2005.

We went into the quarters. There were army cots for the kids, and they hadn’t had all the furniture in yet. The place was freshly painted and the smell of the enamel paint stays with me, you know. I remember that.” 

The living space was 800 square feet, which did not include an enclosed upstairs sun porch and a downstairs exposed sun porch. So they were relatively small.” 

I knew what to expect [when I visited in 2005] because I had seen aerial photos of the place. But when I hit the ground and saw the total ruination I was deeply saddened.” 

 

The house where I used to live did not fill me with emotion even though, you know, I knew that the place was in ruins” 

 

For me, while the building is a reminder and a stimulus, it’s the actual geography, the feel of the sun, the feel of the elements, the look of the ground, the feel of the ground, the smell of the air, the smell of the trees and the water—those are the things that for me constitute memory, pleasant memory in this case.”

—Bob Sisk, son of 1st Sgt. Edgar Sisk, lived at Fort Slocum, 1951 to 1958

(interviewed 2007)