Resolution Island, NWT

1956 – Memories of Resolution Island – Glenn L Watts

As a young United States Air Force Airman Second Class, I, Glenn L Watts, Jr. upon graduating from the Aircraft Control and Warning (AC&W) Radar System Repairman school AFSC 30332 my first duty assignment was the 920th AC&W Squadron, Resolution Island NW Territory.

I departed McGuire AFB, NJ on March 1, 1956, arriving Goose AFB, Labrador for processing and medical review. After about twelve days I flew on to Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island and finally flying the last 200 miles by Helicopter to Resolution Island on March 18, 1956.

It didn’t take long to understand why Resolution Island had been nicknamed the “ROCK”. It was a barren and cold island with very little plant life and some moss. Mainly a 20-mile by 10-mile Rock Island that may have been several islands joined together as one.

New arrivals were treated with royally as someone was waiting for you to get trained and thus they could leave for a new assignment. There was snow on the ground all year. During July and August every one was very busy and worked long hours unloading supplies from the resupply ships. Very little supplies arrived outside of these two months.

During December 1956, January and February 1957, we went over seven (7) weeks without any means of transportion to or from the rock due to the severe weather. As I recall it was 53 days between aircraft arrivals. We did have three-parachute drop of mail and a few movies. I think two of these drops were 39 days apart.

During the month of January 1957, the average temperature was a minus 56 degrees and never got warmer than the ­50. The coldest I actually saw was ­59 degrees. Other than being so remote, life on the "Rock" wasn’t that bad. This was a direct result of the strong and outstanding leadership from the commander and all levels of management. The commander at my arrival was Major George Middleton, followed by Major Roy VanRope. The maintenance officer was Captain Warren VanPelt.

I served my assignment and departed February 20, 1957 for reassignment to Othello AFS, Washington.

Glenn L Watts, Jr.