If you travel west four hours by jet to the international dateline from Anchorage, Alaska, out on the ice cold tundra, you will find Eareckson Air Force Station on the island of Shemya - - the Westernmost island of the Aleutian Island chain (besides Attu) where I led a Project to refurbish the housing for part of the National Missile Defense Program’s Site Activation Facilities several years ago.
Shemya is a 2 mile by four mile island that is a radar site and was called “Big Alice” and “Cobra Dane” back in the days of the ‘Cold War’. It is now part of the defensive system to protect the USA and Canada from any missile attacks from that part of the world (North Korea, China, & Russia). We were doing a project on the island remodeling several barracks that had been abandoned years earlier but were being brought back online with the missile defense program. I'm always impressed looking at a map of this place. We were very far from almost "EVERY" where; actually, 200 miles from Russia and about 1,500 air miles from Anchorage Alaska.
If you look at a map the International Date Line bent around us and on a clear day we could see tomorrow. We were between the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea and these two water bodies meeting is what caused the hurricane - proportioned winds and waves that frequently hit the islands.
I have always been interested in the history of different areas I have lived since my childhood. It started with the Civil War history in and around Atlanta during the time of Sherman’s Campaign to “March to the Sea” from Chattanooga Tennessee to Savannah Georgia. There were many places in and around Atlanta that I found musket balls, coins, and other artifacts from the 1860’s. I wish I had kept those boyhood collections now that I’m grown and have a better understanding of what those things meant to our country and its history. I have enjoyed learning about the times and conditions that people endured from that time period.
Shemya was no exception even with only a small area of land mass. It was still filled with a rich history and the sense of urgency from a long ago time. It very much felt like traveling “to the end of the Earth”. Windy, cold, and barren were only a few ways to describe this island almost into tomorrow.
Where are
the trees?
Shemya’s 10,000-foot runway and Birchwood hangars were constructed as a B-29 base for the bombing of Japan at the end of WWII. The once uninhabited island was first occupied by military forces on 28 May 1943, during the final days of the battle to retake nearby Attu Island from the Japanese. As it turned out, the Joint Chiefs of Staff decided to deploy the B-29s from China and the Marina Islands in the central Pacific. Shemya, instead, became the home of the 28th Bomber Group whose B-24s flew bomber and photo - reconnaissance missions against the northern Kurile Islands while its B-25s, based on Attu, attacked Japanese shipping in the North Pacific. The Group was deactivated in October 1945.
At the time I was there, the island of Shemya had only 40 to 50 full time residents – contract employees who keep the island operational for “guests” such as emergency commercial airline landings or temporary military operations. In addition to maintenance and operations support facilities, the island has a FAA-certified airstrip, dormitory, a dining hall, a small convenience store, satellite television and seven telephone lines. Life on the Island is unique. The population is limited and the natural setting is rustic.
The island lays lengthwise east-west. The north side of the island is the Bering Sea and the South side is the Pacific Ocean; these two bodies of water collide at the eastern and western tips of the island. It is a frequent occurrence to fly and get all the way to Shemya and be told that it is too dangerous to land. Because winds on the island are often upwards of 50 mph flights on and off the island are cancelled and detoured when the wind blows too strongly across the runway. Up to two weeks can go by with no air traffic, which means: no supplies, no food, and any arrival and departure opportunities. On my first flight out we arrived safely on Shemya in 40 mph winds in a Cessna Citation business turbojet. Most flights out to Shemya come from Anchorage but all must stop in either King Salmon or Dutch Harbor to refuel so that they have the fuel to turn around in mid flight if need be due to winds on the island.
Cold & lonely . . .
only the foxes
for company.
The few people I met on the island said the dining hall serves the best food you will ever eat (I gained a few pounds!) -- if the food supplies are high. My role was to project manage a crew of plumbers who were there for the site activation of several barracks facilities abandoned years earlier at the end of the ‘Cold War’. Getting the base back up to speed with more housing operational which was necessary to support the research, development and testing phases for future military operations on the island. It required detailed tasks and strategic scheduling because of the 3-month weather window for barging supplies in for construction. I spent my time in Shemya developing a team to approach the needed work to refurbish the boiler rooms, living areas, and support buildings and contracting mechanics to implement the work.
At the conclusion of my 7 day adventure, part of the team returned to Anchorage (5 hours) on a C-130 military plane. The team consisted of 21 representatives from the Alaska District of the US Army Corps of Engineers, National Missile Defense (NMD) Joint Project Office in Alabama, and Fluor the Prime Contractor.
Is there future work on the little, remote island of Shemya? I think that is definitely possible as our team worked well with all of the projects entities. It is a rare place with rich history of a little known past. It would be great to explore the island fully with equipment to capture the past history.
I had written this several years ago but wanted to include this at this time.
Next up . . . some funny stories.
Ice
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