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Ron Waggoner | profile | all galleries >> Galleries >> Cold Bay Air Force Station, Alaska tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Cold Bay Air Force Station, Alaska

Welcome to my story about life at Cold Bay and the radar site that was once there! If you are just finding this page, you will find that it is an account of my experiences while stationed there with the U.S. Air Force in 1970-1971. When I first arrived at Cold Bay, I started recording letters home on a cassette recorder that I kept on the desk in my room. Each night before I went to sleep, I would talk into the recorder about my experiences that day. When each cassette filled, I would mail it home to my family. Often, those cassettes were accompanied by film that I had shot in my three cameras. At my previous Air Force assignment, I had taken up photography as a hobby. Naturally, I did a lot of shooting and experimenting during my year in Alaska.
After leaving Cold Bay, I kept those photos and cassettes for many years. When digital photography came of age in the first decade of the 2000’s, I digitized the photos and transcribed the cassettes into files on my computer. The photos and the stories on this page are taken from those recorded letters that I had sent home some 30+ years earlier.
I hope you enjoy them!
Ron
Cold Bay Air Force Station, the 714th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, was one of several long-range radar sites located in Alaska. They were strategically placed to monitor the skies for potential threat during the Cold War. Operated and manned by the United States Air Force, the sites were a part of a large and complex defense system that kept the nation safe. In 1970 I was assigned to become the Communications and Electronics (C&E) Officer for the radar site at Cold Bay. Assignment there was designated by the USAF as "remote". Accordingly, family members were not allowed to accompany the airmen to the site. My family was no exception. My previous assignment had been at the 810th Radar Squadron in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. So, after moving my family to my hometown in Illinois, I flew from St. Louis, Missouri to Anchorage, Alaska. Once there, I spent a few days in-processing at Elmendorf Air Force Base. I arrived at Cold Bay during the month of May, making the 600 mile trip from Anchorage on Reeve Aleutian Airlines. At Cold Bay on the tip of the Alaska Peninsula and at the eastern end of the Aleutians, I served an eleven-month tour. This is my story.
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WWII .30 Caliber Round From Fort Randall, Alaska
WWII .30 Caliber Round From Fort Randall, Alaska
WWII .30 Caliber Round Cap
WWII .30 Caliber Round Cap
Fishing Balls
Fishing Balls
Just For Fun Sketch of Cold Bay AFS
Just For Fun Sketch of Cold Bay AFS
Three Volcanos (Click on image for more photos)
:: Three Volcanos (Click on image for more photos)  ::
Black and White (Click on Image for More Photos)
:: Black and White (Click on Image for More Photos) ::
Town of Cold Bay, Bear Chases Girl (Click on Image for More Photos)
:: Town of Cold Bay, Bear Chases Girl (Click on Image for More Photos) ::
Outdoor Recreation (Click on Image for More Photos)
:: Outdoor Recreation (Click on Image for More Photos) ::
Inside the Radar Station (Click on Image for More Photos)
:: Inside the Radar Station (Click on Image for More Photos) ::
Morzhovoi Bay Exploration (Click on Image for More Photos)
:: Morzhovoi Bay Exploration (Click on Image for More Photos) ::
Anchorage in January of 1971 (Click on Image for More Photos)
:: Anchorage in January of 1971 (Click on Image for More Photos) ::
Elmendorf and Anchorage (Click on Image for More Photos)
:: Elmendorf and Anchorage (Click on Image for More Photos) ::
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