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Thursday, April 3, 1997

Reese Air Force Base formally completes its mission

By MARK BABINECK

Associated Press Writer

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - After 55 years of training some of the Air Force's best and brightest, Reese Air Force Base completed its mission Wednesday.

Scores of current and former base personnel were present as the military said farewell to the South Plains, declaring the 64th Flying Training Wing officially inactive.

"It feels just like a funeral," said Perry Bell, one of three graduates of Reese's first class to return for a reunion this week.

The inactivation of the 64th wing came a day after the 52nd and 54th Flying Training Squadrons and the 64th Operations Group also cased their flags.

In total, Reese instructors trained more than 25,000 pilots.

The skies just west of Lubbock have been quiet since January, when the last class moved onward. Only about 700 personnel remain, a far cry from the 3,200 who lived and worked here when the closure announcement came on June 22, 1995.

Much of Reese's current brass arrived after the base knew its fate.

"Back on May 3, 1996, when I assumed command, the 52nd was the first squadron I had the honor to command," said Lt. Col. LeeRoy A. Martin to a weepy packed house at the Reese Club. "Now it will have the distinction of the first squadron I inactivated."

The Lubbock community has first shot at the base property. Officials are leaning toward a plan to convert the base into a business and industrial park but haven't decided whether to acquire the land.

Retired Major Gen. Edward Giller and Col. Robert Gates were in Bell's class, although unlike Bell they pursued military careers. All reminisced about graduation day at Reese as the Japanese threat loomed.

"We graduated at 9:30, and at 12 o'clock we were on a train for the Northwest," said Gates, now a Florida resident. Bell and Gates were among those sent to Alaska to help blunt Japanese designs on Dutch Harbor, 600 miles west of Anchorage.

Gates dropped paratroopers and gliders at the Normandy invasion and shuttled Bob Hope to his first overseas USO show and, eventually, eight of Hope's 13 Christmas programs.

Giller, of Albuquerque, worked alongside Adm. Hyman Rickover in the U.S. nuclear program, and his World War II-era plane soon will go on display at the American Air Museum in Cambridge, England.

Retired Brig. Gen. Richard Hearne commanded the 64th Flying Training Wing in 1982-83. He credited the gusty plains for producing tough Air Force pilots.

"West Texas winds blow all the time," said Hearne, a San Antonio resident whose daughter lives in Lubbock. "If you learn how to fly in West Texas winds, you can fly in anything." Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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