Fairchild celebrates 75th in grand fashion

Fairchild Air Force Base concluded its celebration of a 75th birthday in grand fashion Saturday, Sept. 16 with 850 guests in attendance at the 2017 Air Force Ball.

The event packed three banquet rooms at the Spokane Convention Center for an evening of remembrance that also honored the 70th anniversary of the U.S. Air Force. The vast majority of the crowd were service members, all in some formal dress blue, but sprinkled in were members of the civilian side with whom Fairchild shares a unique bond.

Videos of the base's history played on the big screens and celebrated the heritage of the facility that grew from a patch of West Plains scabland in 1941.

And a vacant table with all service branches represented by their hats - glasses placed upside down to signify their inability to ever celebrate with the group - honored those who had given their lives in the cause of freedom.

Col. Ryan Samuelson, base commander, led off the speaker portion of the night, noting this gathering was the largest in Fairchild's history.

"What an incredible number of years and what an incredible year to celebrate those anniversaries," Samuelson said, referencing the twin birthdays.

As it turned out the base had something else to celebrate, that being the uniqueness of it winning the Omaha Trophy for a second consecutive year.

"I am allowed to brag that we are the only flying wing in the 45-year history of that award to win it back-to-back," Samuelson said.

It's a very special relationship that Fairchild has in and with the Spokane community he said. "In my 23 years and 14-plus places I have lived, I have never seen a community that fervently supports a base like the Inland Northwest," Samuelson said.

Part of that support comes from "Honorary Commanders," a group of area citizens who partner with the base to help connect those inside the fences with those outside.

"Your support connects our base to the community and turns assignments into life remembering journeys," Samuelson said as he thanked both the present and past members of this group. "It's been absolutely great to see this engagement."

And then he harkened back to the table honoring those who never came home, over 1 million Americans who have given their lives in warfare.

"They fought and died on Omaha Beach so we could enjoy Daytona Beach; they raised the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima so that we can raise the flag on Main Street; they sailed the ocean seas and died so that we can enjoy freedom of navigation and commerce," Samuelson told the silenced the crowd. "They destroyed totalitarianism and fascism so that we can enjoy freedom, liberty and choice, they hiked for miles and died in battle so that we can hike for miles and enjoy our freedom."

Samuelson spoke to Fairchild's current mission of engaging terrorism in other lands in hopes of limiting their actions at home.

The night's keynote address was delivered by, Maj. Gen. Randal Fullhart, former 92nd Refueling Wing commander, and current commandant of cadets at Virginia Tech University.

Fullhart took over command not long after the terrorist attacks of 9-11 and got to muse about the journey to a milestone birthday. He spoke of aging where there is a time when if a body part doesn't work, it hurts, that drew laughs.

"You know you're old when you are asked to come back to the wing you commanded by the captain who was your exec (officer) and now he's vice wing commander," Fullhart said.

Fond memories involve when Fullhart's wife was asked to stay inside their home on base while a wandering cougar was captured.

Fullhart spoke of a previous 60th anniversary dinner, but it was held in a more austere location - a hanger.

He touched on the beginnings of the base where civic leaders raised the money necessary to plot the beginnings of the base as a simple supply depot, but how Fairchild has played a part in every major conflict across the world since.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].