Dan Jones’ father served at the Arctic Training Center at Fort Greely Alaska in the 1950’s. Dan commented on one of my stories a few days ago, asked what I knew about the Arctic Test Board. The answer was “nothing”. But I promised to investigate. I hope Dan will share some of his dad’s stories so I can do follow up posts. But for now, investigating led me directly into the fascinating topic of Alaska’s critical role in the Cold War.
The nuclear age began, technically, at Hiroshima… Or maybe it began at Trinity site in the New Mexico badlands. But it really began when the United States and the Soviet Union emerged from WWII squared off against each other. Racing to arm themselves, the two countries built ever more powerful thermonuclear arsenals filled with potentially civilization ending weapons.
As a former governor of Alaska famously pointed out, you can see Russia from Alaska. And, of course, that means you can see Alaska from Russia. The nuclear age put Alaska—and Northern Canada—squarely at ground zero in the arms race.
Defense installations hurriedly constructed for WWII oriented to a threat from the North Pacific; from the south. New installations had to orient north toward a threat coming over the North Pole. Immediately after the war defense planners did an abrupt about face.
First came Aircraft Control and Warning stations, installed across the territory. The Korean War raised the threat level and defense planners hurried replaced those stations with more effective and efficient Distant Early Warning stations. By 1959 twenty-four of these strung across northern Alaska and along the Aleutian chain.
Ladd Air Force Base near Fairbanks and Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage grew apace, acquiring the aircraft that could stop southbound soviet bombers. And Ladd AFB acquired surveillance aircraft that could fly the other way and keep an eye on the Soviets. The Air Force commissioned Eielson Air Force Base south of Fairbanks to handle heavy bombers capable carrying bombs north to The Soviet Union.
In the late 1950’s, Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) made launching bombers and shooting down enemy bombers obsolete concerns. The Air Force in Alaska turned to detecting and tracking missiles.
The Army, also returned to Alaska in the 1950’s, bringing Dan Jones’ dad with them. The old air base near Big Delta became the Army’s Arctic Training Center, and the Army named it Fort Greely in 1953. At Fort Greely the Army tested cold weather equipment, tactics and procedures and it trained soldiers to operate in an arctic climate.
