Page 5 - Luke AFB Thunderbolt, December2019

4 December 2019 spotlight http://www.luke.af.mil Thunderbolt news Facebook.com/LukeThunderbolt 5
December 2019
Thunderbolt
http://www.luke.af.mil
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69th FS thwarts attack, saves base during WWII AETC announces

by Squadron would have their chance to shine. excellence awards
JESSICA JOHNSON On Dec. 26, 1944, the 69th FS inter-
Luk
cepted a Japanese strike force team that The following individual and unit Luke AFB Chapel Holiday Schedule 2019e AFB Chapel Holiday Schedule 2019
944th Fighter Wing historian
was heading to attack the Allied air base received Air Education and Training
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, on the Philippine island of Mindoro. Only Command 2019 Public Affairs Com-
America found itself plunged into another a week and a half before, this island was munication Excellence Awards:
world war. This time, the war would quite under Imperial Japanese control. Whether Team – Best Crisis
literally be a world war, as it would be the Japanese were there to try to reclaim Communication: 56th Fighter Wing
fought not just in the European theater the island or just attack the airfield is Public Affairs for
but also in the Pacific as well. The war in unknown, but that night the 69th Fighter “Investigation of PFOS/PFOA in Catholic Protestant
the Pacific encompassed the ocean and the Squadron thwarted this attack by destroy- drinking water surrounding Luke
islands from Hawaii to the Philippines. ing the strike force. This decisive action AFB”
The need for capable and efficient fighter saved the base at Mindoro. • Dec. 8: Immaculate Conception, Weekend Schedule • Sunday Advent Services (Beginning Dec. 1)
squadrons was crucial to the war effort The location would eventually become Individual – Outstanding • 6 p.m. Dec. 17: Advent Penance Service • 9 a.m. Traditional, Chapel on the Mall
against Imperial Japan. the jumping off point for the U.S. Army Communication Airman: Senior • 10:30 a.m. Contemporary Gospel, Main Chapel
The 69th Fighter Squadron was acti- Air Forces, the U.S. Navy, and their allies Airman Alexander Cook, 56th FW/PA • 5 p.m. Dec. 24 Family Christmas Mass
vated on Jan. 15, 1941, as the 69th Pursuit to attack and reclaim the island of Luzon • Combined Christmas Eve Candle Light Service
Group. They, like so many other squadrons in the northern Philippines. The liberation • 11:30 a.m. Dec. 24: Christmas Caroling • 6:30 p.m. Dec. 24, Main Chapel
at the time, were originally a training of Mindoro would allow the allies to take • Midnight Dec. 25: Midnight Mass
squadron. For the first two years, the 69th back the capital city of Manila. Luke names new chiefs
trained elite pilots to send to the fronts, This round of island hopping was able • 9 a.m. Dec. 25: Christmas Morning Mass
both in Europe and the Pacific. However, to clear the path for the Allied naval and The following senior master ser- Questions?
in November 1943, they received their ground forces to stage the largest am- geants at Luke Air Force Base have • 9 a.m. Jan. 1: Solemnity of Mary Mass
mobilization orders to the Pacific Theater. phibious assault in the Pacific theater. The been selected for chief: Call the Luke Air Force Base Chapel
The squadron was transferred to Brisbane, Battle for Okinawa was fought over an 82- Courtesy photo Hugo Caballero,
Australia, under the command of the 58th day period and after the island was taken, Photographs from WWII depicting pilots 607th Air Control Squadron 623-856-6211
Fighter Group in 5th Air Force. the 69th Fighter Squadron was relocated assigned to the 69th Fighter Squadron.
Their original mission was to escort to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, to begin Brandon Layton,
56th Communications Squadron
bombers over New Guinea and sea convoys preparations for the planned invasion of Today the 69th Fighter Squadron, has
that were headed to the Admiralty Islands. the home islands of Japan. This invasion returned to its roots by training the world’s Frederick Littles, 56th Equipment
Soon, however, they were tasked with at- never happened on the full scale it was greatest fighter pilots while keeping with Maintenance Squadron
tacking Japanese airfields as the 5th Air planned. With the creation of the atomic their traditions of honor, bravery and, above Benjamin Vanderpuy,
Force began the trek north, toward the bomb, the war ended with a conclusive all, the adventuring spirit of the Fighting 56th Maintenance Group
Philippines. This is where the 69th Fighter Allied victory. 69th.

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