By Glenn Rolfe

REHOBOTH BEACH — Sixty years ago, Smyrna resident Brooks Banta was in his mid-20s and a proud member of the Delaware Army National Guard.

And during the first week of March, that membership would thrust him into battle against one of the worst natural disasters to strike the state’s coast: the Storm of ’62.

“This storm, it was a three-day event. It never stopped,” said Mr. Banta, who later served on Kent County Levy Court for 24 years, including 14 as its president. “The wind was probably 40 to 60 miles an hour. It was bam, bam, bam. Every time you’d look around, another big gust of wind, and the waves kept rolling in. It was bad. Waves anywhere from 10 to 20 feet. I mean, it was devastation like I had never seen in my lifetime.”

Amplified by high tides, the slow-moving nor’easter, packing heavy rain and gale-force wind, pummeled the Atlantic coast March 5-7, destroying many structures along Delaware’s beaches and claiming seven lives.

Damage estimates for the First State alone were $50 million, about $465 million today.

At the time, Mr. Banta was a supply sergeant with Battery D 198th Artillery of the National Guard, stationed in Smyrna.

The group’s duty during the storm was to rescue, protect and defend. They headed to Rehoboth Beach, especially hard hit.

“The problem was, after the storm had hit and had begun its second day, some people began to do a lot of looting of all the stores in Rehoboth,” Mr. Banta said. “The boardwalk was completely obliterated. So there was nothing to hold the storm back. The storm just started right down Rehoboth Avenue. Those fine stores were pretty much destroyed from all the high winds and the devastation from that tremendous amount of water.”

Battery D was to stand guard and thwart would-be looters.

“We all took our weapons. Now, I don’t know for sure if we had ammunition or not. As a supply sergeant, it was my responsibility to hand out the weapons, which I did. And I can’t remember if we had live ammunition or not. But we were there, and we had a show of force and that is what was critical for these people that were losing a lot of these stores,” said Mr. Banta.

“I don’t know how many units were activated, but we were, to go down there and protect and defend those properties and store owners that were having their properties pretty much pilfered by people who were there just to do harm.”

The powerful nor’easter affected other Delaware coastal communities, including Dewey Beach, where Mr. Banta would later serve as a nonresident member of the Town Commission from 1982-92.

“A number of the homes down there on the oceanfront got hit. Some survived. Some didn’t,” he said. “But Rehoboth took the biggest hit.”

Stopping looters wasn’t the only memorable occurrence during Battery D’s three- to four-day deployment.

“We also had M42 tanks, at least two. There were people in despair at the lifesaving station, just south of Dewey Beach. If I remember correctly, we sent an M42 tank down to this lifesaving station to rescue those folks that were there isolated,” said Mr. Banta.

Unfortunately, someone failed to remember that between Dewey Beach and the station was a wooden bridge, he said.

“Now, I didn’t see that happen, … but this tank, it was heading down. They got to the wooden bridge, and you can imagine what happened with an M42 tank weighing 20,000 pounds. It just went — plop — into the water below,” he continued. “It took at least three, if not four, wrecking crews to go in there and get that tank out of there, either the next day or the following day.”

Mr. Banta’s recollection is that the folks in peril were eventually rescued by helicopter.

Another report of criminal activity sent his battery to a trailer park in Oak Orchard.

“Someone was pushing around like a canoe or a small boat. They were stealing black-and-white TVs out of all those homes. There was a large trailer camp there; people and summer visitors had trailers,” Mr. Banta said. “We were sent over there to incarcerate that person. We finally did.”

Though an arrest was made, the holding cell was not at a jail but in the basement of the Indian River Volunteer Fire Co.

“There were windows with bars. We were able to handcuff them to that. The following day, Delaware State Police came and took that person away,” Mr. Banta added. “It was a big deal. It’s all history now. It is just one of those things that happens in times of distress.”

Mr. Banta, who retired from his Levy Court post Dec. 31, 2020, treasures his six years of National Guard duty. He is saddened that many of the “great bunch” of guys with whom he served are no longer living.

Now 86, he has vivid memories of the Guard’s experience during the ’62 storm.

“I’m sure other people have memories far better than mine and maybe some more details,” said Mr. Banta. “You can’t stop Mother Nature. You have to work with it. This was a new experience for all of us. We knew why we were there. We did what we had to do. I think it went rather well.”