Fort Greely (Fairbanks, Alaska)
Fairbanks · Alaska · Cold War
History & Significance
The first Army units established camp on June 30, 1942, with 1st Lt. William L. Brame leading an advance detail to establish an Army Air Force Base, whose sole purpose throughout World War II was as a transfer point for the Lend-Lease program to Russia. The facility continued as an Army Air Corps Base until 1945 when it was put in an inactive status, but in April 1947, the War Department designated it as the site for post-war cold weather maneuvers, with Exercise Yukon staged during 1947–1948.
The installation was reactivated May 1, 1948, officially transferred to the Department of the Army, and redesignated as Arctic Training Center on July 1, 1949, later renamed the Army Arctic Center on September 1, 1952. The post was designated Fort Greely on August 6, 1955 in honor of Major General Adolphus Washington Greely, an arctic explorer and founder of the Alaska Communications System.
In the early 1960s, the Army built a nuclear electrical power plant, SM-1A, at Fort Greely as part of the Army Nuclear Power Program, which operated until 1972. In 1995, the installation underwent Base Realignment and Closure, but in 2001 was partially removed from the BRAC list to support missile defense, reduced to 7,200 acres with surrounding ranges transferred to Fort Wainwright. Starting in the summer of 2002, the United States government began work on the missile defense installation at Fort Greely, planning to deploy a total of 25 to 30 anti-ballistic missiles by 2010.
Key Facts
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Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Greely
- https://home.army.mil/greely/about/history
- https://dec.alaska.gov/spar/csp/sites/fort-greely/
- https://alaska-highway.org/fort-greely/
- https://www.fortgreelyhousing.com/history
- https://www.loc.gov/item/ak0663/
- https://www.thehistoryreader.com/military-history/how-a-small-alaskan-refueling-stop-became-home-to-the-us-armys-elite-missile-defenders/