RICHMOND —
From 1963 until 1994, a Strategic Air Command radar installation at the Blue Grass Army Depot tracked and helped train crews of giant B-52 bombers that flew low over Madison County on training missions.
The training ceased when the United States and Russia agreed to reduce their nuclear strike forces after the Cold War ended.
About 40 former members of Detachment 8 of the SAC’s First Combat Group who based at the depot are in Richmond this week for a reunion. About 30 spouses plus other friends and relatives bring the number to around 70, said Emerson McAfee of Red Lick, a Detachment 8 veteran.
On Saturday reunion participants will conduct an 11 a.m. memorial at the depot for those of their number who have passed on, including 19 who were killed during the Vietnam War. The ceremony will take place by the historical marker where the radar installation once stood.
Because the reunion is taking place on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the veterans also will honor those who died that day, McAfee said.
Among those who served at the depot radar installation and perished in the Southeast Asian war was Henry Dish who was killed in 1968 when North Vietnamese forces overran a U.S. radar station in Laos, about 20 miles from the North Vietnamese border, McAfee said. Dish was married to a Madison County woman, McAfee said, and she and their daughter still live here.
Dish and 12 other unarmed Americans lost their lives in the engagement that is recounted in the book, “One Day Too Long,” by Timothy Castle.
Dish and the others were discharged from the military and were employees of a U.S. defense contractor when they operated radar that guided U.S. air strikes against North Vietnam.
“They knew the North Vietnamese were coming, but believed the attackers could not climb the steep slope to reach their mountain-top radar emplacement,” McAfee said. “As the book title states, they stayed one day too long.”
The radar installation at the local depot contained two units, McAfee said. One American but the other was a copy of a Soviet radar captured by Israeli forces in the 1967 Six-Day War. U.S. military officials would not comment on the unit when it was operational.
Some in Madison County believed an actual Soviet radar that U.S. commandos had seized during a raid inside North Vietnam was in use at the depot, buy McAfee said that was untrue.
Although a copy of equipment captured in the Middle East, it was supposed to function the same as Soviet-made radar used at surface-to-air missile sites in North Vietnam, McAfee said.
The strategic bombers that flew low over Madison County tried to jam the Soviet radar as it attempted to track them on their missions, McAfee said.
Detachment 8 was created in Puerto Rico in 1948 as a “temporary” unit, McAfee said, but it remained in operation for 46 years. It moved to Paris, Ky., in 1960, and to Lynchburg, Va., in 1962 before settling in Madison County one year later.
McAfee, a native of Springfield, Ohio, served in the U.S. Air Force from 1960 until 1984. He was stationed in Southeast Asia for two years during the Vietnam War, but spent most of his service at the radar station here.
Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 624-6622.
Local News
Radar operators to reunite, conduct memorial at depot
- Local News
-
-
‘She wasn’t just a teacher’ : Lambert retires after 43 years at Berea
Scroll to the bottom of the story to read "Love for Lambert: Berea graduates share memories of their teacher," as well as a list of other Berea retirees this year.
Writer’s Note: Brenda Lambert is the reason I write articles today (Class of 2000).
Years ago, a little blonde-haired girl from Rockcastle County gathered her friends to “play school” in a 10-by-10 foot playhouse her father built.
Even at 12 years old, Brenda Lambert knew she wanted to be a teacher one day.
“I always felt like an old person trapped in a young person's body,” said Lambert, who is retiring after 43 years of service to Berea Community School. -
Special Olympics return for 18th year at EKU
Next weekend, the Special Olympics Kentucky State Summer Games return to Eastern Kentucky University campus. This is the 18th consecutive year EKU has hosted the event.
The games will be Friday through June 2. About 1,300 athletes will compete this year. -
Assault charges reduced, dismissed by grand jury
Two men arrested in connection with serious assaults had their charges reduced, and in one case dismissed, by a Madison grand jury.
Jerry Wayne Edington, 34, of Berea Road, was charged Jan. 19 with second-degree assault after an altercation at the Blue Moon bar on East Irvine Street, according to a Richmond police report. -
Dump of the Day
The Dump of the Day is a recurring series the newspaper publishes to highlight illegal trash piles and push local governments to cite perpetrators and get illegal dumps cleaned up. See Page A7 in Sunday's paper to read a copy of the city’s ordinance related to trash pickup.
-
Paradise Cove open through Labor Day
Opening day of Paradise Cove Family Aquatic Center coincided with a spike in temperatures Friday which reached 90 degrees. The facility, located in Richmond’s Lake Reba Park, will be open through Sept. 3. Regular hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday.
-
Dump of the Day
An old mattress, a car seat and other debris sit Friday afternoon on North Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets where it was first spotted Thursday. The “Dump of the Day” is a recurring series the Richmond Register publishes to highlight illegal trash piles and push local governments to cite perpetrators and get illegal dumps cleaned up. See Sunday’s Richmond Register to read a copy of the city’s ordinance related to trash pickup.
-
Undefeated academic team brings pride to Madison Middle School
Madison Middle School 6th and 7th grade academic teams have been undefeated for the last two years.
The 8th grade team also has done well, having some students qualify to compete at the state level. -
Woman fends off burglar with knife
A Berea woman used a kitchen knife to fend off an alleged burglar early Wednesday morning, and police say they were able to catch the man in the act.
-
Man is indicted on additional sex charge involving teen in 1998
A man already accused of sex abuse in November 2011 has been indicted on a charge of first-degree rape involving a child in 1998.
Charles W. Peyton, 63, of East Irvine Street, was indicted Wednesday by a Madison grand jury. He used “forcible compulsion” to have sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl between March 1 and May 1 in 1998, according to the indictment. -
Woman fends off burglar with knife
A Berea woman used a kitchen knife to fend off an alleged burglar early Wednesday morning, and police say they were able to catch the man in the act.
Officers responded to a call in the 1000 block of Scaffold Cane Road about a man trying to break into a home, according to a release from BPD Public Information Officer Jake Reed. - More Local News Headlines
-
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
