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Comment: (Posted: 5/16/2020 5:02:09 AM)WAFB was my base of choice coming out of Vietnam. I lived in Michigan and wanted to be close to home. This was one of my best assignments. I often wish I had stayed in the USAF.
Comment: (Posted: 5/10/2020 6:29:25 AM)Worked in missile shop oldest son born in base hospital in 1969 lived on corner of skeel/cedar drive
Comment: (Posted: 5/8/2020 12:45:34 PM)Wurtsmith was my first duty assignment out of tech school. I arrived in mid Dec 1972 and by Mar 1973 I had orders to Udorn RTAFB. By the first of Jul 1973 I was gone from Wurtsmith.
Comment: (Posted: 4/21/2020 1:39:51 PM)Cross trained into Supply due to Asthma.
Comment: (Posted: 4/20/2020 5:16:39 PM)First duty assignment after Tech School.
Comment: (Posted: 4/20/2020 11:16:43 AM)My first duty station. I complained while there but realized after I left how it was a great assignment. I worked with some great folks, had a great time playing softball and flag football.
Comment: (Posted: 4/15/2020 7:30:46 PM)Checking in again, been a while since I last wrote something. Always looking for comrades with whom I served with at WAFB.
Comment: (Posted: 4/6/2020 6:37:08 AM)Crew Chief B-52H 60-011. Rick Ceja was my assistant. Pulled a lot of alert but I liked that duty. Had some tense moments. Favorite Oscoda places was the Nordic and Ausable Inn. Spent the summers dirt biking the snow mobile trails. Hung with Sgt Dave Olsen, Sgt Dave Lloyd, and Ssgt Keith Gendreau
Comment: (Posted: 3/31/2020 7:53:21 PM)I have discovered crash site of TF-51H-10NA Mustang serial number 44-64711A crashed about 6 miles from Oscoda AFB 26 June 1951 Pilot Captain Harold Howard Buth killed Aircraft assigned to the 56th Fighter Interceptor Wing, 56th Fighter Interceptor group, 63rd fighter interceptor squadron Oscoda Big pieces of wreckage at the crash site I'm looking for pictures of F-51 Mustangs at Oscoda.
Comment: (Posted: 3/30/2020 7:46:10 PM)Crew Chief B-52H 60-011. Alert duty was fairly consistant, but I liked that assignment. Sgt Rick Ceja was my assistant, Msgt Nick Martella my section supervisor. Loved the summers in Oscoda.. The Ausable Inn and Nordic were the hotspots back in those days. Weekends off were spent riding dirt bikes on the snowmobile trails. Sgt's Dave Lloyd, Keith Gendreau, and Dave Olsen were my closest buddies. Great assignment
Comment: (Posted: 3/30/2020 8:12:13 AM)The pictures are awesome, I liked the SPS pics in the Alert area.
Comment: (Posted: 2/23/2020 5:16:06 PM)Comm-Nav
Comment: (Posted: 1/31/2020 6:45:47 AM)I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Beautiful area, and did a lot of hiking in the woods around the base and the Ausable river. One of the highlights was them building a McDonalds in Oscoda. Before that I had to drive 50 miles north to find one :-) To this day, decades later, the best pizza I've ever had was in Oscoda! Never did give a thought to the fact that I was living in the crosshairs of one or more Soviet ICBMs, something I also did at several remote sites we maintained while I was stationed in northern Italy near Venice.
Comment: (Posted: 1/23/2020 4:26:03 AM)Really loved my time and experiences at WAFB
Comment: (Posted: 1/2/2020 4:28:17 PM)The best squadron I was assigned during my career. Unfortunately we lost squadron mates and on bomb squadron mate in the accident.
Comment: (Posted: 12/27/2019 7:10:49 AM)I owe this base so much - my growth, humility and the friends i made there
Comment: (Posted: 12/17/2019 10:55:39 AM)A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all that served at Wurtsmith
Comment: (Posted: 12/11/2019 12:02:04 PM)Wonderful tour, learned so much. Served as a Nuclear Weapon technician, maintaining the nuclear components for the F-101 Voodoos. Lifeguarded at the base beach on Lake Van Etten, and actually lived on a parcel of land on the lake until we moved into base housing. I am now the Commander of the American Legion post 835 in Rancho Cucamonga, Ca, Captain of the Honor, Rifle, and Color Guards and Finance Officer of the Sons of the American Legion. I also volunteer at the Ontario International Airport USO, 2nd largest in the US. I collect military memorabilia, challenge coins, pins, badges and am looking for anything from the 445th. Especially pins that can be worn on my covers, or on my jackets. Anyone out there with any info I would appreciate hearing from you via email. Thanks
Comment: (Posted: 12/1/2019 1:43:44 PM)B-52 Pilot
Comment: (Posted: 11/14/2019 4:25:34 PM)Assigned to CES Elect. shop as Elect. power production Spec. First assignment out of tech. school. Winter was hell for a single guy living in the barracks and on snow removal standby 24/7. Summer was heaven !!!!
Comment: (Posted: 10/18/2019 8:44:02 PM)Not sure on dates but close. Long time ago
Comment: (Posted: 10/16/2019 7:30:10 PM)First duty assignment. Worked in the ER and treated many... Good times with Night shift base personnel who came by for cup of coffee during some of those cold nights..... Many fond memories....from Fishing for salmon, steelhead, smelt dipping, to Deckers for a “mess” to the Nordic Inn for drink, dancing , and occasional fight. Saw comments from a few I worked with. Still think about those cheesesteaks just outside the front gate. I remember some pretty wild broomball games with the SP squadron too—got my nose broke. Would like hearing from folks who visit the site.
Comment: (Posted: 8/16/2019 7:21:28 PM)Came from Phan Rang, Viet-Nam to Wurtsmith. I was a Auto-Pilot tech and surprised to work on some of the same Voodoos that I had worked on at Hamilton, AFB Calif.from 1963 until 1966 when I went to Viet Nam to work on the F100 Super Sabre. I came to Wurtsmith with a 1962 409 Chevy and did a lot of racing with friends like Stanley Girard, the base barber and Bill Kitchens, a Air Policeman In 1969 the Voodoos were given to the Air National Guard at Fargo, North Dakota, where I spent 3 months at the coldest place that I had ever been to. I am from North Carolina so North Dakota and Michigan were absolutely bitter cold for me. I made a lot of friends in Oscoda and still have some of them today. I own property a few miles North of Oscoda and it is a shame to see a city shrink when a local military base closes.
Comment: (Posted: 8/11/2019 6:52:58 PM)Great time and people @ WAFB
Comment: (Posted: 8/5/2019 10:37:42 AM)looking for pictures of dorms,chow hall and base as it was while i was there
Comment: (Posted: 7/17/2019 5:12:21 AM)Haven't checked in here for like ,I don't know, seven years or so. Glad to see this is still up and running. 32 years since I was up there, sometimes it seems like yesterday, but mostly I recall being cold, REALLY cold. Flight sim guys, aka the floor cleaning crew, give me a shout if you are still alive. AMS dorm guys, I guess some of you might not be dead from liver problems brought on by our drinking, let's hear from you too.
Comment: (Posted: 6/12/2019 9:56:34 PM)My last assignment prior to retirement in 1984. Most memorable events were the introduction of Air Launch Cruise MIssiles and the Easter Sunday 1984 nuclear protesters that nearly penetrated the alert area. I was blessed with a talented Senior Airman, Tom Gunning, who served very well as Editor of the base newspaper.
Comment: (Posted: 5/27/2019 4:23:12 PM)I was the NCOIC of the Records Section. Played center and defensive end for the Hospital football team. I was on the Hospital Broom Ball team when we won the base championship. My oldest daughter was born at the hospital in June 1976. After leaving WAFB, I went to Officer Training School. When I was a Major, I completed Seminary and became a Chaplain. I retired as a Chaplain Lt Col on 30 September 2013.
Comment: (Posted: 5/6/2019 10:49:06 PM)I worked in Aircraft Systems checkout for the brand new SRAM system under MSGT Earl "the pearl" Phillips. one of the best managers ever. Froze my ass off. Ended up in california as a government lawyer. warm now.
Comment: (Posted: 4/30/2019 12:35:52 PM)Hello
Comment: (Posted: 4/20/2019 9:19:49 AM)Wurtsmith AFB and the 379th BW were my first assignment after tech school as a Nuclear Weapon Spec.. I arrived just in time to help prep the Wing for our massive TDY to Anderson AFB, Guam for Operation Linebacker II. All of the Wings Bomb Loaders and Conventional Munitions folks except for one advisor of each career field held been developed throughout SE Asia to support other wings or all ready in Guam waiting for the Wing to arrive. All of us 463s found ourself's pulling double-triple duty in other career fields to keep the couple of B-52Gs left behind for strategic alert. On Mondays we'd prep the hounddog guidance sets and warheads. On Tuesday we'd work the conventional shop loading rocket pods, ammo cans for the B-52 gun and prep flares. On Wednesday we'd recert and do maintenance the B-28FI Nuclear Bombs. Thursday we'd transport everything to the flight-line, load the new B-52 to go on alert with everything, once cocked on, we'd download the old aircraft and transport the old items back to the WSA across from the bomber pad. On Fridays we went to the EOD Bomb Range and exploded and burnt old munitions, while in the afternoons we cleaned, inspected, our equipment and vehicles and setup what we could for the next week. I was amazed as how great our supervisors were in taking new personnel, organizing us, training us, to maintain the Wing's Nuclear Alert Force with a bunch of guys who were scared enough and knew little to help, except learn and follow their lead. This lasted until January, when the Wing was returning we went into a DEFCON THREE actual alert and things really got more real. We were converting every bomber as they landed from conventional bombing to carrying nuclear weapons loads and placing them on alert, while also loading our extra nuclear weapons for movement to classified airfields for reloading the bombers if they were able to return. This was a crazy and really exciting time to be in SAC and I sure learned a lot. Once everything returned to normal. if there was such a thing, we began the hard work of training and deploying the new AGM-69A Short Range Attack Missile which I would spend 14 years working on and even sometimes travel with the Boeing Deployment team to other bases to help our sister Wing's deploy the SRAM. Though quite remote, with the only MacDonalds 40 miles North, which was opened in 1974, still remains as one of my most favorite assignments. I have never found a place with better fishing!!!!
Comment: (Posted: 4/16/2019 6:01:05 PM)Spent one long cold winter there.
Comment: (Posted: 3/2/2019 2:07:20 PM)I worked the 379th FMS aero repair and the tire shop. Knew Dan Rein & family and would like to touch base with them. Also Don Robbins & family. Knew Lin Campbell and Brian Grothe who had a band and played at the AuSable Inn & NCO club. I was at Wurtsmith April 1964 to Oct. 1965. Did a 18 month tour on Okinawa (TDY's in Thailand) and back to Wurtsmith from April 1967 to discharge in Oct. 1967. Really enjoyed the time spent at Wurtsmith.
Comment: (Posted: 2/21/2019 6:24:03 PM)Wurtsmith was my first duty assignment out of tech school. I cut my SAC teeth at WAFB. All my other SAC tours were in the South! It was great to be assigned close to home! I won a talent show in 1977, and made many friends!
Comment: (Posted: 2/7/2019 9:58:31 AM)I enjoyed my time at Wurtsmith. I don't recognize any manes here but if you recognize me send me an email.
Comment: (Posted: 2/2/2019 4:19:33 PM)Still love my BUFF'S! Was on the flight line for the first time and saw my first B-52 take off and the damn tail took off before the rest. Started screaming thinking it was going to crash, then everyone around me was saying, "Yepper, got a Greenhorn." Good times but hated that water tower with the smiley face on it, we wanted to blow it up!!!!!! God bless Pappy and his 69 El Camino, my first car! Appreciate the latitude of the Air Force for the opportunity to serve, and the longitude to get out.
Comment: (Posted: 12/29/2018 6:59:10 AM)Had been stationed at Kunsan Air Base, Korea, for 14 months. Returned home and married Joan 7 days later. We will celebrate 56 years in August. Guarded 52's initially, but then served as a ADT Alarm Annunciator at the weapons storage area. Typical of the Air Force...I had 2 stripes doing the job of a Tech Sargent. Lots of pressure but the winters were warmer than on the flight line. Rented a cottage on Loud Drive (on Lake Van Etten) for $75/ mo. Eventually moved into town for $50. Joan taught 2nd grade for $4100. Had fun returning to Oscoda last year.
Comment: (Posted: 12/12/2018 5:10:35 PM)If you remember me, shoot me an email, and let me know whats happened since the early Air Force days.
Comment: (Posted: 11/19/2018 5:36:47 PM)Had a great time while there !!
Comment: (Posted: 11/17/2018 3:56:43 PM)379 OMS/FMS Tanker Cr.ew Chief had the best time of my life there. Miss my family there.They called me digger.lol must have been my call sign because it stuck with me.
Comment: (Posted: 11/17/2018 11:18:00 AM)Deployed to Desert Sheild and Desert Storm with this great unit!
Comment: (Posted: 11/12/2018 4:51:38 AM)A lot happened at Wurtsmith. Was assigned there with ex as a humanitarian reassignment from Germany. My ex-became my ex there. My life partner and I met there. We were introduced at the Edelweiss Bar and Grill by Supervisor. Worked in Maintenance Scheduling and Maintenance after cross training out of Transportation. Was married in East Tawas. Marries Master Sgt Will Hicks. It seems like a lifetime I was there. Got a reassignment to Chanute from there as a Technical Instructor for Scheduling. We now live in North Carolina and I am terrible with names. It has been a lifetime ago. Loved to play darts. Was very involved with base goings on. Was there when General LaMay came through and toured the base and attended the ceremony we had involving him. Like I said been a long time and I have slept since then. Can't remember many names. The Browns - Tom and Rista they helped with my wedding reception at the Edelweiss. Lt. Berg Transportation. Good and bad memories there but mostly good. Some may have known me as Daniel.
Comment: (Posted: 11/8/2018 5:34:45 AM)Lots of memories of lots of great people. Cold winters. Humid summers.
Comment: (Posted: 11/5/2018 4:46:32 AM)First duty assignment and one cold winter!
Comment: (Posted: 10/29/2018 3:56:40 AM)I am currently living in the Del Webb community in Ponte Vedra, FL (just South of Jacksonville). Would love to here from anyone stationed at WAFB between 1972-1976.
Comment: (Posted: 10/13/2018 6:44:43 PM)I have commented twice before but have since changed my E-mail address. Worked the "Hot Room" scrambling the fighters. I had a great time on the base and enjoyed the people of Oscoda and Tawas. I know there are not too many of us left from that time period. but if the name rings a bell send me a note. I am just sick reading about the ground water contamination and its possible problems to not only the Air Force Vets, but the local people as well. I so loved the area and my family vacationed in the Tawas area for years. Had a great time at the 07 reunion, but was not able to make it to the later ones. God Bless to All, Ray
Comment: (Posted: 10/10/2018 7:01:07 PM) I came to Wurtsmith after Vietnam-Lived just west of Detroit and was glad to get the base nearest my home. I made a lot of good friends at Wurtsmith, Had a great flight chief - Tsgt Donald R. Owens-got married to my high school sweetheart and spent my last three months with her at the base. I still come back to Wurtsmith, even though it's closed, just to relive old memories.
Comment: (Posted: 9/14/2018 9:41:43 AM)On my way to the old Wurtsmith AFB to go to work for Kalitta Air (09/2018). Hope to be living in Tawas.
Comment: (Posted: 9/11/2018 11:56:25 PM)Really enjoyed my time at Wurtsmith. Meet a lot of net people who some I still in contact with. Haven’t Been back since I left but have seen pictures so sad to see the way the base looks today. Hoping one day to get back and see the old place... Sgt James E Pierce
Comment: (Posted: 9/3/2018 12:24:53 PM)Kept the radio transmitters, receivers and RAPCON and tower radio equipment alive. Loved midnight chow before mid shifts. Can't beat WAFB at 30 below in the winter.