Memories of Resolution Island
In May 1953 I was transferred to NEAC from an AC&W Squadron in Michigan. During my first assignment in NEAC I worked at the Control Center at Pepperrell AFB – first at the old wooden shack Control Center near Torbay, and later at the new facility on the base itself. During my year at Pepperrell, I spent three months on TDY at Goose Air Base in Labrador where the group sent was expected to straighten out the Supply warehouses. It seems that the Army had just dumped things into big piles and the Air Force personnel couldn’t figure out what they had. I know we stacked a whole lot of C Rations and inventoried a lot of warehouse during that three month time period.
In September 1954 I was advised that I was "surplus" and I was transferred to McAndrew AFB with the understanding that the unit was soon to be moved to Resolution Island. You’ll love one of the pictures which shows a 920th AC&W Squadron sign with a little "For Sale" sign down by the bottom.
I arrived at McAndrew just in time to process for the trip. I didn’t even get to unpack my bags. We boarded the USS Oberon and another ship which I think was carrying vehicles and some of the squadron on 18 September 1954.
I was an A/2C at the time and had been trained as a Communications Operator with specialty training in Teletype, Facsimile and a dab of training as a Switchboard Operator. I can not recall whether I had volunteered or whether I had been volunteered to go to Resolution Island but I can confirm that I did, indeed, proceed to and work at this location.
The Communications Section was required to function 24 hours a day – and as a result, I found myself working an assortment of different shifts. These were prepared by S/Sgt. Salazar, the NCO i/c and approved by the Communications Officer. The parabolic communications antennas were installed shortly after we arrived. We didn’t know much about them and I think it was a group of civilian personnel who did most of the work on and with them during my tour at Resolution Island.
I recall that we had limited recreational facilities at the unit. We did have our own radio station, a MARS station, a Photo Lab and of course, the "Snake Pit". It is safe to say that I spend a considerable number of hours in each of the above mentioned areas – and I also read voraciously.
I spent a total of seven months at Resolution Island. I don’t know of anyone (from the original group) who left before I did – except for Red. On New Year’s Eve, the Commander opened the beer locker. Many tried to drink everything we had brought – some 1,500 cases of Ballantine beer. Red, who worked in Radio Communications. got a little drunker than most before midnight and became very combative – trying to take out a bunch of folks. He was restrained and sedated by our medic (an honest-to-God, drop-out from Veterinarians School and put into a straight-jacket. A couple of days later he was airlifted out on one of those few helicopter flights that made it to Resolution Island that winter.
It was often very windy and not too many people ventured out during the winter months except for special occasions. In January 1955 the whole site was alerted. The wind was from the southwest and roared up the canyon directly at the radome at over 90 knots. Major McNamara, the Squadron Commander, ordered a crew to the radome just below the inflated radome. We were to watch the wind gauge and if the wind exceeded 120 knots we were to release the radome by firing explosive charges arranged around the edge. There was supposed to be a time delay on that so that we could pull the lever and then promptly get out since they weren't sure if that building would go as well. If we didn't do this we were told the radome could pull the whole site over the cliff and into the ocean when the wind approached 130 knots. It certainly seemed plausible at the time. Fortunately the wind never got above 105. On the other side of the site one of the dayroom orderlies in the most westerly dayroom wanted to take a look at the wind and opened both the back doors at the same time. It took half a dozen folks to close the doors and then we had to push the interior wall back into place.
I would estimate that there were about 125 USAF personnel at the site during my tour at Resolution Island. There were some civilian personnel but I do not recall how many or what their functions may have been.
The food was always excellent and we had the best of everything. The Mess Sgt. was Louis Mercurio and all I had to do was ask that we have raw oysters in an iceblock and we had it for Christmas in 1954. It was not unusual to have a steak-fry, however you wanted it and any number you could eat. Mercurio was the person who introduced me to pizza. On New Year’s Eve he said he was going to make an old family recipe, Pizza Pie. That was one thing that turned out to me a disappointment to me. I thought it tasted terrible and haven’t improved my opinion since then. But, in all other respects, the food was good, plentiful and the cooking staff knew that morale depended in large degree upon their skills. The Mess Hall was always open, coffee was always there and snacks were excellent.
Behind the bar, one of our folks had put up a sign which read "Water rots boots. Think of what it does to your stomach! Drink Beer!". I don’t know if Major McNamara or M/Sgt. McKenna regarded drinking as a problem but looking back on it from the perspective of having worked in the treatment of alcoholism for more than thirty years, it was a very serious problem. The "Snake Pit" was the place where everyone gathered and drank as much as they could every time the place was open. Sitting with friends, you did not buy a round of drinks, you bought a case. Before the end of the evening, empty cans touched the ceiling.
We did not have any USO shows during my tour at Resolution Island. Movies were often available and as I recall, these were freely used. We also received those big 16 2/3 rpm recording discs for the radio station which were from the Armed Services Radio and which covered all the great radio serials of the day.
I recall the catwalks between the buildings as being endless. In the middle of the night you could almost imagine that you were the last person on earth – as you moved from one location to another. My room was in the last building and was the last room on the left of the sections of barracks closest to the Mess Hall. In my room I was completely alone but if I wanted company all I had to do was open my door or go up to the dayroom and laundry at the top of the stairs.
Shortly after we arrived I had a footlocker that was mailed to me. It had to be air dropped. Rather than hitting the landing strip, it went over the cliff and into the ocean. Getting out was a little trickier. Only when the light plane could make a landing would mail arrive or depart from Resolution Island. It was a high wing monocoupe, like a Cessna, and was very sporadic. We often relied on using the MARS relay for important messages.
I think back and recall that, from an operational perspective, there was just one single radar tower and radome that house the FPS-3 search radar when we arrived in September 1954. The towers for the backup search radar (FPS-502) and the height finder (TPS-502) were in existence – but the radar equipment and corresponding radomes were not in place for this radar equipment when I departed in April 1955.
I eventually departed Resolution Island in April 1955. There was a lake about 5 miles from the site which was cleared of snow and an SA-16 aircraft landed there and took five of us to Frobisher Bay where we awaited further transport to Goose Air Base.
I was assigned to Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson Arizona for the balance of my four year enlistment. What was worse was the fact that, during this, my final assignment, I was sent on TDY to Stephenville Newfoundland at Harmon AFB on a number of occasions. I was finally discharged in February 1956.