The US is planning to establish two military bases on Greenland in the south and on the east coast, a far cry from the 17 in the Cold War era.
The Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig sites are part of a US deal expected to be signed with Denmark and Greenland on Tuesday, local time, according to Reuters.
Today, only the Pituffik Space Base still stands.
The Cold War brought fresh attention to the Arctic.
As part of a US-Denmark security plan, American forces built several bases in Greenland.
In 1959, one of them became Camp Century, a US base 200 kilometres from the coast.
US Army engineers built trenches in the snow and covered them with metal arches.
Encased within the ice sheet, Camp Century soon became better known as the "city under the ice".
Little did Denmark know, it also doubled as a US nuclear missile testing site.
Dubbed Project Iceworm, US forces built a nuclear reactor under the ice in 1960 to run the 200-odd-person camp.
A few years later, those who returned found the ice had frosted the tunnels closed.
Like a Cold War Great Wall, the US also established a 5,800km chain of radar stations over the Arctic.
Four DEW sites divided Greenland: one on the west coast, one towards Iceland and two on Greenland's Ice Cap.
Toke Brødsgaard from Greenland Today said he saw a beer still on the counter of the bar and a dart wedged in its board.
After the war, Denmark continued to mine the mineral until resources dried up, and the site closed around 1987.