On a small, rocky island in the middle of the Bering Strait, closer to Russia than to mainland Alaska, a piece of military history is succumbing to the elements. Though no longer in use, the simple, box-like armory that Arctic winters have battered has an historical significance that, unlike the building's physical form, will not soon wither under the weight of heavy snow.

A half-century ago, as tensions between the Soviet Union and Western powers continued in the years after World War II, the Alaska Army National Guard constructed a remote outpost on Little Diomede Island -- one of many strategic points in Alaska along the "Ice Curtain" -- the Arctic border that separated the USSR from the US, and which buffered the free world against the threat of communism.

Local hunters who had grown up traversing the landscape in search of polar bear, walrus and seal were called upon to play a critical role. They became "Eskimo scouts" -- vigilant eyes and ears ready to watch over and defend the border on behalf of the nation. Their efforts, in video clips and interviews, have recently been chronicled in a yet-to-be-released documentary, which also includes rarely seen footage of Soviet defection that took place on the island in 1989 -- a key event in the designation of the island's armory as "historically significant."

By 1960, when the 20-foot by 60-foot armory and its second-story overlook were built, the Cold War was in full swing. Little Diomede residents had already suffered capture, interrogation and release by Soviet hands, nabbed during a trip to visit relatives on nearby Big Diomede. Alaska's Arctic force was trained and on alert, ready to defend against invasion and report interlopers.

"It's one of the only locations where the actual non-combatants, but antagonistic forces, were facing each other on their home lands," said Jerry Walton, Deputy Director of Facility Management for the Alaska National Guard and producer of the documentary "Eye-to-Eye," which tells the story of the guard's significance to the Cold War and the central role Alaska Natives had in the effort from 1947-1991.

"It had glass that overlooked the Bering Sea and the Soviet Union," Walton said of the armory's second-story cupola. "If that was Sarah Palin's house she could see Russia from there."

"They were watching us and we were watching them," Walton said of the respective forces on either side of the border who were prodding one another with "military saber-rattling" activities -- performing maneuvers and shooting their weapons out on the ice.

"We were sending the message that we are here, we are armed, and we are protecting our people," and that we were a "ready, reliable fource," he said.

Villagers in Little Diomede and other Alaska outposts, like St. Lawrence island, were told to black out windows so that the Soviets couldn't see in and spy on them. From time to time they would notice low-flying Soviet aircraft or a submarine, find mysterious footprints along the coastlines, hidden rafts and other items clandestine foreign soldiers might leave behind, like light bulbs and gas masks. At least once, a villager on patrol vanished -- presumed kidnapped and killed by the enemy although suspicions were never confirmed.