History Features

The Myrtle Beach Air Force Base Through The 20th Century Part II Last month’s history column highlighted the role that the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base played throughout part of the 20th century.  This month, we’ll explore its role in history in greater detail.  During World War II, the United States Air Force was not …

Part II Continued from last month…. At one o’clock and two-seconds later, there’s a call.  I’m in a classroom and an announcement comes in: “Will Mr. Davis please come in.”  Now in the Navy, they don’t call you ‘Mr.’ unless you’re an officer, going to jail, or something good happened.  So I get in there, …

In 1939, the Myrtle Beach Town Council voted that the City of Myrtle Beach needed a local airport, and subsequently purchased 135 acres of property to create one.  At the time of the purchase, they paid $35 an acre.  The airport was constructed by the Works Progress Administration, and named the Harrelson Municipal Airport after …

“I was born in 1925.  World War II broke out one Sunday when I was a senior in high school, and everyone went down to enlist on Monday.  But I was only sixteen-years-old, and my mother wouldn’t sign anything, so I couldn’t enlist.  I finished high school in June of 1942 and didn’t turn 17 …

Thomas Merritt Knoles was born in Flagstaff, Arizona in 1927.  He attended Flagstaff High School, followed by the University of Arizona.  In March 1946, he enlisted in the United States Air Force.  He received his commission as a second lieutenant and his pilot wings through the aviation cadet program in June 1948.  In 1950, he …

Colonel Robert Pasqualicchio has a long, interesting, and illustrious military career.  He enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps in 1942, and served in World War II.  He was a combat fighter pilot, flying P-40s, P-47s and P-51s during the war. In 1954, the City of Myrtle Beach donated it’s airport to the United …

by Melissa LaScaleia Charles E. Cook, Jr. was born in 1921 in Pennington, New Jersey.  He went to grade school at Randolph-Macon Academy, a coeducational college preparatory school in Front Royal, Virginia.  He then attended college at Bucknell University, a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and received his degree in 1942.  That same …

William H. Rutherford was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and joined the United States Air Force where he was a Command fighter pilot for more than thirty years.  He also served in the District of Columbia’s National Guard forces as part of his military career.  During his tenure in the military, William was stationed at the …

I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee.  My father was a World War II veteran; he fought in the South Pacific with the United States Marine Corps.  He landed in the first assault wave in the 1942 invasion of Guadalcanal and landed on D+2 with the 21st Marine Regiment in the 1945 invasion of Iwo Jima.  …

by Melissa LaScaleia The Air Force Cross is a military honor given to a member of the United States Air Force.  It is the second highest honor that could ever be bestowed on a soldier.  This decoration is concomitant to military honors from other branches of the United States military: the Distinguished Service Cross, the …