Page 15 - Luke AFB Thunderbolt May 5 2017

Thunderbolt NEWS May 2017 15 http://www.luke.af.mil Facebook.com/LukeThunderbolt
Air Force history preserved at Luke
by Tech. Sgt. LUTHER MITCHELL JR,
56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
The NMUSAF collects, conserves and presents the Air Force’s history to a glob- al audience through engaging exhibits.
“I’m the custodian for 27 artifacts from the NMUSAF,” he said. “They own them and I inventory them. It used to be annually and biannual, however, they are changing the schedule to every five years.”
Many of the artifacts kept at Luke are from previous wars.
“We have a flying jacket at the 62nd Fighter Squadron that actually has the patch painted on the jack- et,” Griset said. “We have survival maps from WWII, a leather oxygen mask from the 1940s and a Hungar- ian flying suite which looks an awful lot like our class A service dress uniform.”
One artifact Griset cares for is a Japa- nese battle flag.
“At the 310th FS there is a Japanese battle flag,” he said. “It’s made of silk, and it is so old that if you touch it, it bruises. It is very fragile. I hope they never ask me for it, because moving it will just destroy it.”
The flag, commonly known as the Hino- maru, was carried by Japanese soldiers into war. This Hinomaru appears to have been taken into battle due to what ap-
Richard Griset
Luke Air Force Base has a long legacy and tradition of honor dating back to World War I with Medal of Honor recipient 2nd Lt. Frank Luke Jr. The mission, values and history of the
56th Fighter Wing are captured in its culture and it’s the base historian who is responsible for preserving its heritage.
In a small office in Bldg. 461, Richard Griset works on finishing up his latest, annual inventory of artifacts kept a Luke.
“To keep the artifacts is to retain our heritage and where we come from,” Griset said. “We need to know the past to know where we are going. You can ignore our past, but we are less effective if we do.”
Every year, Griset conducts an inven- tory of items kept at Luke on loan from the National Museum of the Air Force.
Courtesy photo
Luke Field was under construction Sept. 16, 1941, when this photo was taken look- ing east from the Control Tower, along what is now the mall. The chapel was not quite completed. The dirt patch below the telephone pole and street, is where the F-16 Fighting Falcon static display and flags sit today.
pears to be blood stains on the fabric. Jan Cutrona oversees the battle flag
at the 310th FS.
“It’s a part of our history that we
guard and protect,” Cutrona said. “When
walking visitors around the squadron, I always stop and show them our histori- cal items and explain the delicacy of the Japanese flag.”
See hiStory, Page 26
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