The White Falcon - 04.06.1971, Blaðsíða 4

Keflavik’s week in history
Naval
Station’s
ten years
By JOl Chuck McDonald
1961
CALL it the NATO base, which it is. Many call the
combined forces here 'the "defense force," which
it is. It was ten years ago when the Navy assumed
host responsibilities from the Air Force.
Capt. William R. Meyer was the first commanding
officer. Although the NATO base had been here
since 1951 when American forces first arrived, the
Air Force maintained host responsibilities.
Since the changeover in July, the Navy has set
June 10 as the established date for record purposes.
The change occurred vhile the White Falcon was tak-
ing a summer vacation due to the printer's vaca-
tion. The newspaper, a five-column tabloid until
1968, was printed in Reykjavik. The first issue on
record under the Navy is the August 19 issue. Air
Forces Iceland was here then, and is very much a
part of the defense force today.
The Navy's first year started with celebration of
Iceland's 25th year of aviation. The 57th FIS took
part in the festivities with flight demonstrations.
On September 25, AFRS began around-the-clock
broadcasting. In years to come, the radio station
was destined to garner top awards from the Freedoms
Foundation, aid the American Heritage Awards program.
November saw the Navy take another step toward
full responsibility at Keflavik when the Fleet Wea-
ther Facility was established. Our facility was
the newest of 16 stations forming a world-wide net-
work of weather units.
The year ended with Keflavik being notified that
the Department of Defense had suspended the custom-
ary early release program for the holiday season.
1962
'J'HE Navy started this year off by relieving the
Army of duties at Port Reykjavik, which until
last year was located in that city and known as the
Water Terminal. The facility was moved to the base
in 1970.
A Keflavik-based P2V was reported missing in Jan-
uary. The fate of this aircraft was to remain a
mystery until September 1966 when a combined U. S.-
Icelandic rescue party located the wreckage in
Greenland.
Also in January, the dependent's school, in op-
eration for ten years, was rededicated in honor of
Alfred Thayer Mahan.
In February, President Kennedy asked fora sweep-
ing reappraisal of military pay, allowances and re-
lated matters. An established study group had its
proposals ready for Congress in early 1963. The
last pay study had been conducted in May 1957.
On July 4, the Navy celebrated its first anni-
versary in Iceland, in addition to normal Indepen-
dence Day celebrations.
In August, the 57th FIS began flying the F-102
"Delta Daggers," which they still fly today. The
old F-89 had been on duty since October 1954.
By the end of the year, the Chiefs got a new
club, 'ftieir old one had been condemned as a fire
hazard.
1963
ARTICLE IS of the Uniform Code of Military Justice
gives skippers the guidelines for what they can
adjudge an accused at Captain's Mast. Before Feb-
ruary 1963, this didn't stop many offenders. Seri-
ous cases had to be referred to courts martial. A
new law put more teeth into Article 15, and from
that date, corananding officers had more latitude in
non-judicial cases.
A sweeping pay raise proposal awaited Congres-
sional action in early 1963. As time passed, many
of the "rider" proposals to the basic pay bill were
eliminated.
A sailor's wife entered the station hospital
with an abdominal hemorrhage and local marines re-
acted promptly to a call for blood. Before she
could be prepared for surgery, the blood was ready.
In May, Keflavik AFRS won their second consecu-
tive American Heritage Award. In broadcast compe-
tition of Navy radio stations, the local station
4
took top honors and was entered into higher compe-
tition.
On June 26,Sveinn EIriksson was installed as the
naval station's Fire Chief, a post he holds to this
day. Under his leadership, the fire department won
many awards in future years.
In September, Vice President Lyndon Johnson vis-
ited Iceland as part of a 15-day tour of five Scan-
dinavian countries.
Surtsey was born in November. Amid flame and
vaporized water, the earth's surface ruptured and a
new island was created some ten miles off Iceland's
southwest coast.
President John Kennedy was shot to death while
riding in a motorcade in Dallas. The world reeled
from the shock that such a thing could happen in
our modem times. Until the end of the year, this
tragedy was headline news as a nation and a world
recovered from the shock of the death of the Presi-
dent of the United States.
June 4, 1971