H I S T O R Y
BEFORE WWII	DURING WWII	1944 BILL ILES	1944 CURTIS PARTCH	1947 ED SPILMAN	1950 - 1951 GENE WOOLIEVER	1951 - 1969	1970 - 1989	1990 - 1994	HISTORY COMES ALIVE

Concertina wire in the lagoon.

After Vietnam 1970 - 1989

1970-1972

At home, things are not going too well. National Guardsmen kill four students during rioting at Kent University. President Nixon has special recording devices placed on all telephone lines to the Oval Office, and the infamous "plumbers", later of Watergate fame, are organized.

In Vietnam, the war drags on, and the My Lai incident of 1969 is being investigated in detail.

At Kwajalein, Col. Jesse L. Fishback arrives to replace Col. Millar. The big push is on to build another Spartan/Sprint launch site on a small island called Illeginni. Martin Zachry and Global Associates crews work jointly 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on the crash program.

Located some 34 miles up the west reef, Illeginni presents a formidable challenge. A new harbor and docking area must be dredged out so personnel and supply boats can get close to the island. Construction of a water distillation plant and new power house are the primary projects.

By late 1971, the island facilities are working. In March 1972, a Sprint missile, controlled from Illeginni proves that the Safeguard System using Sprints and Spartans can be fired in salvos from remote launch areas.

An extensive repair and upgrade is begun on Echo Pier, which had been damaged by Tropical Storm Phyllis and other, smaller storms. Construction of seawalls and addition of riprap protection is under way at Kwajalein and many of the outer islands, including Meck, to protect against the ocean-wave action experienced yearly. A major project to replace power cable is started after it is discovered that most of the continual power outages have been caused by the glavanic action of seawater on the underground, lead-shielded power cables. Owing to the prosity of the island, the underground cables are under seawater during high tides.

The first of many TV sets shows up on island. There is no TV station yet on Kwaj, but one is installed on Ebeye. Subscriptions for an unscrambler device are being sold.

Most folks are content to see suporting events on videotapes sent by friends or relatives on the mainland. The first microwave arrives on island; it was special ordered through Macy's. Kwajalein is becoming very sophisticated.

Perhaps the biggest news on Kwaj is the finding of the long-lost freshwater lens well used by the Japanese. Water has always been scarce on Kwaj, especially during the dry season. But now, with the development of the lens well system adjacent to the concrete runway, fresh, potable water is being added to island storage tanks.

1973-1976

From 1973 through 1976, a series of major events rocks the U.S. congressional hearings devulge the efforts of key men in President Nixon's administration in the break-in of the Democratic campaign headquarters at the Watergate. For the first time in the nation's history, a president is forced to resign. Gasoline prices soar as a Mid-East crisis pushes oil prices through the ceiling.

By 1976, gasoline shortages no longer cause long lines at service stations, and the country prepares to celebrate the Becentennial. Conestoga wagons from all states head toward Valley Forge, Pa. The Liberty Bell makes the trek from Independence Hall across the street to Independence Mall. Major Bicentennial July 4th celebrations are planned from coast to coast.

On Kwaj, the same period marks the final phases of Safeguard, a project directed by Bell Laboratories since 1959. In February '73, Sprint Salvo, Mission M2-41, is completed. Spartan and Sprint facilities are deactivated the same year and Bell Labs last director, Larner M. Gambrill, takes control of the project's phase-out.

In 1973, Col. Robert R. Russell arrives to replace Col. Fishback.

The final Meck system intercept of a live target takes place at the beginning of 1974, and the last operational Nike-Zeus facility, TTR-4, closes in February, after 13 years of use. The Safeguard System Contractor building (SSC), formely known as the JTO, is closed, and a sign is left on the door: "We came, we calibrated, we closed -- 2/4/74."

At the same time that the Safeguard project was ending, others were beginning or continuing. KREMS handled 25 missions in 1973 and more than 30 in 1974. Ballistic Missile Defense Test Program (BMDTP) "follow-on" development and data-gathering continued. The System Technology Test Facility (STTF) was constructed by McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company on Meck in 1975, to house a new data processing facility. The SOFT (Signature of Fragmented Tanks) missions, part of BMDSCOM which led to DOT, then HOE, was successfully completed in 1975. The HF transmitter complex was relocated from Gugeegue to Kwajalein.

A change in Department of Defense policies alsohas an impact on the range and test facilities for direct costs of all services.

For residents on Kwaj, 1973 through 1976 bring a number of changes including saying goodbye to the last Bell Lab and Western Electric employees, who leave in style on a special charter flight. Although they don't have to wait in service station lines like friends and families in the states, island residents feel the impact of inflation and the first of the oil shortages. The Hourglass publishers notices urging people to conserve energy, and vehicles used to support technical efforts are limited. Inter-island flights are curtailed, and shipments of supplies and merchandise reduced.

Nature also imposes its will in early '73 when Kwaj has its driest spell in recorded history. The salt distillation plant runs seven days a week and Arnie Hanson's windmill, whichhe had purchased to give to the Marshallese on Carlson for agricultural irrigation, is installed to pump water from the lens well. The drought finally ends in May.

A reduction is island population brings about other changes. For the first time, houses and trailers are vacant on the north end of Kwaj. Some of the trailers in Silver City are removed for other government uses and the MAC DC-8 is discontinued in March 1975.

Video cassettes of television programs had found their way to Kwaj the previous year, drawing audiences to the Yuk and Crossroads Clubs. But by 1975, the Crossroads is closed, there are fewer movies shown and residents joke that the "Ten-Ten" should have its name changed to the "Eleven-Nine."

In 1976, Col. Russell completes his tour, and Col. Ernest A. Van Netta takes command.

1977-1986

In retrospect, many observers will state that the late 1970s held a dismal outlook for the technical projects on Kwajalein. SALT-1 (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) had been in effect long enough to de-emphasize some of the programs at Kwajalein but SALT-II had never been ratified by the Congress and SALT-III was still in the planning stage. Arms limitation proposals blew in the wind at the White House. Nothing seemed to make sense as the arms race continued.

On the mainland, things were not tooo good in other areas either. The nuclear accident at Three Mile Island in March 1979 brought forth new hearings in Washington that resulted in more regulations on the handling of nuclear programs.

News of the 90 people taken hostage at the American Embassy in Tehran was spread across front pages around the world.

The Chrysler Corporation reported a $450.6 million dollar loss for the third quarter 1979, and it looked like the taxpayers would have to ante up a loan to bail them out.

As the world turned the corner into the 1980s, another cataclysmic event occurred when Mt. St. Helens in Washington state blew, killing 60 people and doing more than $3 billion dollars in damage.

Americans woke up one morning in April 1980 to find that the U.S. had botched an attempt to rescue the hostages in Tehran, killing eight American soldiers and airmen. The Chinese had stepped up their rocket launching programs and the Russians were testing a new replacement for the S-9 missile.

On Nov. 4, 1980, Ronald Wilson Reagan was swept into office as the 40th president of the United States, and the American people had great hopes for better times. One of Reagan's first acts was to cancel controversial MX Program mobility scheme of having ABMs riding around the U.S. on railroad flat cars. The president said there just had to be a better system. For the Army and all the residents of Kwajalein Atoll, the early 1980s were to be a trying and somewhat turbulent period.

On Meck, the old MSR was being mothballed and the obsolete Spartan/Sprint ground support equipment was salvaged for parts and rare metals.

While the Kwajalein resident population continued to drop, the Marshallese numbers continued to grow at an alrming rate on Ebeye. As part of a good will development program, the Army agreed to build a 2,000-foot runway on Ebadon Island in the northern sector of the Kwajalein Atoll. The task was done by the logistics contractor using labor and equipment from Kwajalein. It was hoped that many of the Marshallese might move from Ebeye to Ebadon, thus reducing the population which now stood at almost 8,000 people. While the construction project was a success and Air Marshall Islands did make scheduled flights into the island for a time, the hoped-for movement of the Marshallese from Ebeye failed to materialize.

The situation on Ebeye was further compounded by the simultatneous problems of the newly proposed Compact of Free Association being offered to all residents of the Trust Territories. The intitial plan offered to the Marshall government in Majuro by the TT representative, Fred Zeder, was repudiated by the Congress. Many of the resulting arguments between members of Congress and the Trust Territory offices were discussed on Kwajalein in the 1980-1981 period.

Most every airplance that landed included members of Congress, the State Department, or some other interested government agency. The entire program was further cluded by the efforts of the Marshallese on Ebeye to be a part of the upcoming rent/lease agreements and payments discussions by the U.S. government (Army) for the use of Kwajalein, Roi Namur and several of the outer islands.

For several years previous to 1980, payments had been made directly to the Marshalls government in Majuro. The alabs (landowners) who lived on Ebeye claimed they did ot receive mush of the rental money from their own government in Majuro. As the Compact and leasing talks dragged on, the citizens of Ebeye called for a work strike on Kwajalein to show their displeasure. This was further amplified by the famous "sail-in" of 1980-1981 on Kwajalein by many of the Marshallese4 from Ebeye and adjoining islands. At one period several hundred Marshallese families were camped out in the areas of Coral Sands Beach, the Oceanview, Pacific Club, and several other areas at Roi and Meck. the Army took a passive position during most of the demonstration, food, and some emergency medical help to the campers. Incited by several local politicians and the media, the agitation between the Marshallese and the U.S. government increased. The Army and the people working on Kwajalein were caught in the middle of the turmoil.

Into this confusion, unrest, and eventually hostile environment came the new island Army commander, Col. John W. Banks, on June 30, 1982. At first the new Army staff was somewhat overshelmed by teh complexity of the sail-in,a nd the status of the Compact agreements in Majuro and on Kwajalein. The world media did nothing to help the situation and usually reported worsening conditions by blaming the Army for the whold mess. For the most part, the Army on Kwajalein had no real part in the Compact confusion and even less in how rental payments were to be paid and to whom. It was the Army staff and the people o Kwajalein who were made to look the "bad guys".

In the meantime, technical work at Kwajalein Missile Range continued. A new program called the Homing Overlay Experiment (HOE) had come to Kwajalein for testing in 1981. The MICB at Meck was modified to meet the needs fo the new and somewhat different intercept program. The concept of the HOE intercept missile was based o the use of a non-nuclear warhead intercept of an enemy ICBM before it was bale to re-enter the earth's atmosphere. The idea had been discussed for some time and some of the hardware had even been built but never integrated into a weapon system for testing. The HOE was built by the Lockheed Corporation and the McDonnelll Douglas Company for the Army. The island population increased slightly as engineers, technicians and scientists came to Kwajalein for the HOE program.

Testing at Meck continued in the early 1982-83 period in spte of the Marshallese sit-in problems. In June 1984, the first true intercept of an ICBM using HOE took place in the upper atmosphere high above Kwajalein. The success of the project had shown the feasibility fo destroying enemy missiles without using nuclear devices. It also demonstrated the ability of the intercept weapon to track and destroy an incoming ICBM without the ground-based guidance signals that were necessary on older intercept missiles.

The HOE also strengthened the concepts of President Reagon's proposed Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) and quieted some of the skepticism about it, at least for a time. The successful HOE program, we sould find out later, was one of the primary reasons the Russians came back to the bargaining table in 1985 that Congress woudl ratify the Compact agreement. Then the government of the Marshall Islands, now called the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), fefused to approve several parts of the agreement. There was still unhappiness about the rental agreements and the amout of money to be paid over the next five-year lease. An additional list of grievances from the Marshalls leaders would have to be resolved. Most of the Marshallese went back to Ebeye, at least for awhile, but the matter arose again in 1985-1986. In July 1984, a new Army Commander, Col. William Spin, reported for duty on Kwajalein. It seemed, for awhile at least, that the whole sail-in scenario would start all over again.

Life on Kwaj for most of the inhabitants during this period stayed about the same. There was a noticeable cutback on services owing to a tight budget. Most of the Silver City trailers had been vacated, and many of them were given to various government in the Trust Territory.

Much of the construction effort was put on hold and the Recreation Fund was just about out of money. With fewer people on ilsnad, there were fewer sales at Macy's and Gimbels which meant less money for recreation projects. The Ivey Theater was closed. Movies were cut back, with pictures being shown only on the weekends at the Richardson and Yokwe Yuk Club.

Television had come to the island and there were more than 1,800 sets in use by the end of 1983. AFRTS started broadcastion television on one channel, which brought world news in only a few hours instead of several days.

The big advantage was the live coverage of major sporting events. The lifestyle on Kwaj changed over night. gove were the afternoon swims and cookouts at Emon. The six o'clock tennis matches had to be rescheduled around the TV news report. Everybody now hurried home to get Dan Rather or Tom Brokaw on the "boob tube." There was even a noticeable lack of arm-benders at the Oceanview, Yuk, and Pacific Club after 5 p.m. Bowling, bridge, and outdoor barbecues still continued but they played second fiddle to TV.

The old Dental Clinic and Beuty Salon behind the Yuk Club closed. The Dental Clinic moved to the present location on the second floor of the Ivey School. The Beuty Salon was moved into a 50-foot trailer across from Macy's.

There was now an RMI sales tax of five percent on most items sold in Macy's and the Kwajalein Golf Course had to start charging greens and locker rental fees. In may 1984, the military took over operation of the post office, and Kwajalein became an official APO.

There was a general shift in conditions at Kwajalein in 1985. After another work strike and sit-in by the Marshallese, a final rental and lease arrangement was agreed on. The facilities at Meck Island were once again put into mothballs, and the Kwajalein population dwindled to around 2,500 people.

Things quieted down on Kwaj until the Pentagon made the announcement of a step-up in the SDI program when the Congress approved $1.5 million for the construction of 21 MD missiles. the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization was redesignated as the U.S. Army Strategic Defense Command (USASDC).

In May 1986, the functions of the Kwajalein Missile Range Directorate were moved from Redstone to Kwajalein, and the command was redesignated the U.S. Army at Kwajalein Atoll. This change incorporated the USAKA commander's expanded role under the Compact of Free Association. Soon after, Range Command was established as a subordinate command. Early in the '90s, Range Command was redisignated Kwajalein Missile Range.

On Kwajalein, a major repair and maintenance program was started to insure continued use of the older housing, trailers, and barracks buildings. With the coming test programs at Meck and Roi and the potential increase of technical contractors and their families coming to Kwajalein, a new housing project out in Silver City was planned. The old reliable Caribour C7A aircraft were replaced by anew airplane called the Shorts SD3-30. Another old timer on Kwaj, the Tarland, was replaced by higher speed marine craft.

On July 16, 1986, Col. Spin departed the island and was replaced by Col. Richard G. Chapman, Jr.

1987-1989

A change in U.S. attitudes and the world order marked the end of the '80s. George Bush managed what few vice-presidents had accomplished; He won the presidential election. He continued many of Ronald Reagan's policies, including military preparedness, but as he took office, he was haunted by Iran-Contra.

As Bush's single term progressed, the Soviet Block began to fall aprat, with the overthrown of communism in Poland, and the Berlin Wall toppling by December 1989. While Congress discussed "peace dividends," Iraq took over Kuwait. The invaders were removed by U.N. forces in Operation Desert Storm with the help of Raytheon's Partriot Missile.

In 1987, USAKA hosted a number of test programs including ERIS and HEDI. While the Kuiper infrared technology experiment came to a close, the Range Operation Division, renamed Range Command at the end of the year, handled three Peacekeeper missions, three Minutemen III launches and two Minuteman II missions. One of the Range highlights was ALTAIR's performance: a perfect record for new foreign launch coverage during the last half of '87 and a 98 percent success rate for the year. Between Oct. 1, 1982, and Sept. 30, 1987, ALTAIR logged two-thirds of the nation's deep-space satellite radar tracks.

On Kwajalein, the population was only 2,639 in 1987 and 2,560 in 1988, just slightly more than half the population in 1973. On Sept. 14, 1987, Pan Am World Services was awarded the combined logistic and technical support services contract, which had been held by Global, and DynCorp was subcontracted for technical range engineering and transportation support. The Christmas tree lighting that year marked its 20th anniversary.

Kwajalein residents no sooner finished clebrating the start of 1988 when they were hit by Tropical Storm Roy on Jan. 7. The Teen Center, Pacific Club, and Oceanview Club suffered major damage, and Ebeye was particularly hard hit. The Federal Emergency Management Agency provided financial relief whilc citizens of Hawaii sent 10,000 pounds of food. Later that year, the Stars and Stripes Book Sotre opened with Col. Edwin J. Montgomery, Jr., commander and editor-in-chief, Pacific Stars and Stripes, conducting the ceremony. Col. Philip R. Harris assumed command of USAKA from Col. Chapman.

Range activity in 1988 was focused on reactivation Meck for ERIS and HEDI Space Based Interceptor (SBI) programs. Modifications made to the Meck Island Control building allowed programs to simultaneously perform launch and pre-test missions.

In May 1989, the range supported the first launch of BSD's small ICBM. Other consequential mssions that year included the Navy Trident Fleet Operational Test and two Titan 34D missions. The MMW (Millimeter Wave Radar) dobled its operational range after sifnificant improvements to its system software,a dn shattered all previous records for detecting mssion targets. The range also supported BSD's HAVE JEEP VIIC-- a difficult local launch program.

The population of Kwaj expanded, again reaching 3,11-. Silver City changed its color as 102 three-bed-room and 34 two-bedroom townhouses were erected with multiple bathrooms, storage areas, convered patios, carpeting, adn central air conditioning. Residents began moving in August 1988, though the last of the houses were not completed until March 1989. Video tapes, now a staple entertainment on Kwaj, became available from the Tape Escape at its home in a renovated trailer across from Macy's.

Roi residents slso moved into new quarters that year as two new apartment buildings were opened, along with a new recreation hall. For entertainment, they began receiving live video on Channel 13 and could shop at an expanded Gimbels.

Another 1989 landmark was the purchase of Pan Am World Services by Johnson Controls Inc. A new aircraft hangar was completed for fixed-wing planes used to shuttle people to and from Roi. The Child Development Center and the Child Development Administration/Operations buildings were modified, slong with the Republic of the Marshall Islands office, which was expanded.

On to 1990

H I S T O R Y
BEFORE WWII	DURING WWII	1944 BILL ILES	1944 CURTIS PARTCH	1947 ED SPILMAN	1950 - 1951 GENE WOOLIEVER	1951 - 1969	1970 - 1989	1990 - 1994	HISTORY COMES ALIVE