Indiana base celebrates 75th Anniversary

Photo By 1st Lt. Katrina Heikkinen | Petty Officer 2nd Class Phillip Nielson, Detachment 1 Communications Company corpsman, prepares to raise the American flag with Airman 1st Class Jose Martinez, 434th Security Forces Squadron patrolman at Grissom Air Reserve Base, Indiana, June 30, 2017. Celebrating its 75th anniversary, Grissom opened July 1, 1942, by the U.S. Navy as Bunker Hill Naval Air Station. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Katrina Heikkinen)  

GRISSOM AIR FORCE BASE, INDIANA, UNITED STATES

06.30.2017

Courtesy Story

434th Air Refueling Wing

GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. -- July 1 may just be a date on a calendar, but for historians it marks a significant event – the 75th Anniversary of Bunker Hill Naval Air Station.

The Navy opened up the base on July 1, 1942 as a training base for Naval, Marine and Coast Guard aviators.

“I remember hearing stories of Sailors lined up and down 31 hitch hiking to Kokomo and Indianapolis on their days off,” said Douglas Hays, 434th Air Refueling Wing public affairs operations chief.

The Navy trained hundreds of fighter pilots in a short amount of time, including Ted Williams, a hall of fame baseball player with the Boston Red Sox.

Because the base was used to train naval aviators for carrier landings, large octagon pads are still visible from the air in a few communities. The octagon landing pads allowed the students to land no matter the wind direction.

“In talking with people throughout the years it was common for the students to crash land in farm fields and even trees,” Hays said. “Sadly many of those folks and their treasured stories are gone.”

As the anniversary approaches, Col. Larry Shaw, 434th Air Refueling Wing commander spoke about the historical significance of the base.

“Think about all the men and women that stood on this ground,” Shaw said. “Hundreds of thousands of Sailors, Soldiers, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and Airmen worked and trained here to meet whatever mission awaited them.”

While the base began with World War II, and closed following the war, it was reopened as Bunker Hill Air Force Base by the Air Force in June, 1954.

“The Air Force saw value in this area then, just as it does now,” Shaw said.

The base was renamed on May 12, 1968 in honor of Lt. Col. Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, a native of Mitchell, Indiana. Grissom was one of America’s original seven astronauts and was killed during a fire in his Apollo capsule at Cape Kennedy, Florida.

“Throughout the years we’ve been a big deal,” Shaw said. “We’ve been part of both the former Tactical Air Command, and famed Strategic Air Command.”

The Air Force Reserve became part of the Grissom community in 1971 when the 434th Special Operations Wing and its A-37 Dragonfly aircraft relocated to the base. For the next 23 years Grissom was home to both active and reserve personnel.

In 1978, a second Air Force Reserve unit—the 931st Air Refueling Group -- joined the scene. At the height of its operations, the base was home to one active duty and two Air Force Reserve wings, 60 KC-135 Stratotankers and 18 A-10 Thunderbolt II fighter aircraft.

Due to changes in the Air Force mission, two units (one reserve, one active duty) were deactivated in 1994. In October of that year, Grissom was realigned as an Air Force Reserve Command facility. Today, the host-unit is the 434th Air Refueling Wing. While the Air Force has the largest contingent of personnel at Grissom, it is also home to Army and Marine Corps Reserve personnel.

“One thing remains consistent,” Shaw said “No matter the name, whether it be Bunker Hill or Grissom, this base is a valuable asset to the community, and we are proud to be the latest in a long line of warriors to serve our nation here.”

The 434th ARW is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command. Men and women from the Hoosier Wing routinely deploy around the world in support of the Air Force mission.

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• Date Taken: 06.30.2017
• Date Posted: 01.30.2018 12:36
• Story ID: 263878
• Location: GRISSOM AIR FORCE BASE, INDIANA, US