COLONELJOHN G.NELSON

FACILITYDEDICA TION

18 OCTOBER 1997

Schedule of Events

Arrival of official PartyPresentation of Colors

244 CBCS Color Guard.Invocation - chaplain (lieutenant) Lewis C.Dolan, USN Introduction of official Partyand Distinguished Guests

Lieutenant Colonel Michael]. Nugent,Commander 116 th Air Control Squadron

RemarksMajor General Raymond. F. ReesThe Adjutant General, Oregon

National Guard. RemarksColonel James M. HerronSpecial Assistant to the Operations Director,Air

National Guard.Remarks

The Honorable Mrs. Joan DukesOregon

State SenatorRemarks

Brigadier General William F. DoctorCommander, Oregon Air

National Guard RemarksMrs. Helen NelsonWife of Colonel John

G. Nelson Reading of ColonelJohn G. Nelson's Biography

Lieutenant Colonel, Retired, James T. FaullFormer Commander, l I6th Tactical Control

Squadron Monument Unveiling official Party DepartsConclusion of Ceremony informal Reception followingceremony

SPECIAL THANKSAvery special thanks to the Nelson family. Your efforts

to be here were above and beyond. Thank you very much.

Mrs. Glen Nelson, Mr. and Mrs. John Nelson Jr. andchildren Erika & Trevor, Mr. William Nelson

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE116th AIR CONTROL SQUADRON (CRE)RILEA ARMED FORCES TRAINING CENTER

WARRENTON, OREGON

18 October 1997

MEMORANDUM FOR THOSE

PRESENT

FROM: 116ACS/CC

SUBJECT: Welcome to the

Facility Dedication

1. Welcome to the dedication ofthe COL John G. Nelson Facility.

2. What you see before you isthe culmination of years ofplanning.This facility is a state of the artcomplex designed to supportourmission. We are very proud ofour facility, the unit and ourmission.

3. COL John G. Nelson was apioneer in the use of RADAR forournation's armed forces. He grewthrough the ranks of the OregonAirNational Guard and it is fitting werecognize him and hiscontributions.

4. The men and women ofthe 116™ AIR CONTROLSQUADRONwelcome you and our honored

guests who have joined ushere forthis festive event. Have a greattime!

MICHAEL J. NUGENT, Lt Col, ORANGCommander

KEYNOTESPEAKERCOLJamesM.Herron

Colonel James M. Herron isthe Director of Communications andComputer Systems for theHeadquarters, Pennsylvania AirNational Guard. In this position, heis responsible for managingPennsylvania's combat missionsupport units. In addition, he servesas a long range planner, qualityfacilitator, and as the chairman of aninformation systems working group.As a member of the Director's Staff,he is currently performing as aspecial assistant to the OperationsDirector at the Air National GuardBureau.

COL Herron was born inWashington, Penn. He holds abachelor's and master's degreefrom the Pennsylvania StateUniversity. He joined the AirNational Guard in 1966 andcompleted the USAF OfficersTraining School as a distinguishedgraduate, receiving his commissionNovember 1967. He graduated fromWeapons Controller training inFebruary 1968. He has completedAir Ground Operations School,Squadron Officers School, AirCommand and Staff College and theNational Security ManagementCourse.

In 1968, COL Herron wasassigned to the operations section ofthe 112th Tactical Control Squadron.He served as an instructor weaponscontroller and held the positions ofweapons assignment officer, seniordirector, operations training officer,communications officer andoperations officer. In 1979, COLHerron was appointed commander.

During his tenure, COLHerron led the 112th to become thefirst Air National Guard RADAR unitto perform back-to-backdeployments in Denmark and Italy in1983. They were also the first todeploy to Turkey in 1988, andnorthern Portugal in 1991.

COL Herron wasinstrumental in the establishment of

the 114th Air Traffic Control Flight inPennsylvania. He also served as theaction officer at National GuardBureau - XOO (Operations Branch)on several occasions and wasresponsible for the 1986 manpowerstudy which became the basis forthe addition of full-time personnel forthe entire Air National Guard TacticalAir Control Squadron system. During1991, he served as the Air NationalGuard Tactical Air Control SquadronAdvisor to the Commander,Headquarters Tactical AirCommand. COL Herron alsoparticipated and managednumerous counter-narcoticsdeployments. He was promoted tothe rank of Colonel in June 1993.

His military awards anddecorations include: MeritoriousService Medal;; Air ForceCommendation Medal; JointMeritorious Unit Award; CombatReadiness Medal with four oak leafclusters; National Defense ServiceMedal; Humanitarian ServiceMedal; Air Force Longevity ServiceAward Ribbon with five oak leafclusters; Armed Forces ReserveMedal with one oak leaf cluster;Small Arms Expert MarksmanshipRibbon; Air Force Training Ribbon;Pennsylvania Service Ribbon withthree oak leaf clusters;Pennsylvania 20 Year ServiceMedal with three oak leafclusters; Pennsylvania ThomasWhite Medal and PennsylvaniaThomas Stewart Medal.

COL Herron serves on theboard of the State College FederalCredit Union, and on the DeltaTheta Sigma fraternity alumniboard. He is a life member of the AirForce Association and is a memberof the National Guard Association ofthe United States.

He resides in StateCollege, Penn with his wife, Edithand their children Deborah andDavid.

COLONEL

JOHN

G.

NELSON

Colonel

Joh

n

G.

Nelson

was

born

in

Centralia,

Wash.,

graduated

from

Lin

coln

High

School,

Portland,

Oregon

and

attended

the

Universi

ty

of

Portland

and

the

University

of

Oregon.

He

launched

his long and distinguished militarycareer shortly after his country'sentry into World War II.

In July 1942 he joined theEnlisted Reserve Corps to enter theCivilian Pilot Training (CPT) Program.Upon completion of this course inNovember 1942, he was called toactive duty in the Army Air Corps as aStaff Sergeant, glider pilot trainee.Due to his abilities and prowess, hewas selected for a commissioningprogram and attended OfficerCandidate School (OCS), graduatingOctober 1943 as a SecondLieutenant. While attending OCS,Col. Nelson held the position ofCadet Squadron Commander andwas designated a DistinguishedMilitary Graduate. After OCS heattended the Air Force School ofApplied Tactics at Orlando, Fla.,graduating as an Aircraft Controllerin December 1943. Col. Nelson wasposted to the Pacific Theater ofOperations and controlled aircraftthrough several major World War IIcampaigns. He served in thiscapacity with the 13th Air Force,South Pacific Theater, for 23months. At war's end, Col. Nelsonwas assigned to the San FranciscoControl Center. He separated fromactive duty in January 1947.

Col. Nelson began his servicewith the Oregon Air National Guard(ANG) in July 1947 when he joinedthe 142nd Aircraft Control andWarning Squadron (ACWS). Heserved with the 142nd ACWS as anaircraft controller until he was calledto active duty with the squadron forthe Korean War. Col. Nelson wasassigned as the commander of theU.S. Air Force's Alaskan AirCommand Radar Station at Galena,Alaska, in May 1951. He completed aone-year remote tour, left Alaska inJune 1952 and was assigned as theOperations Officer of the 775th ACWS,28th Air Division, Cambria, Calif. Afterserving 21 months on active duty, Col.Nelson returned to the Oregon AirNational Guard in March 1953 asCommander of the 142nd ACWS. InOctober 1960, the 142nd ACWS wasassigned a new mission and a newname - the 142nd MobileCommunications Squadron. Col.Nelson continued to command thesquadron until February 1968 whenhe assumed the position of DeputyChief of Staff, Oregon Air National

Guard. From December 1969 toJune of 1971, Col. Nelson wasreassigned to the Air Force Reserveserving in various capacities. Col.Nelson re-joined the Oregon AirNational Guard in June 1971 as theCommander of the newly formed 153rd

Tactical Control Group, Portland, Ore.In November 1973, Col. Nelson

retired with more than 30 years ofdistinguished military service. He wasa pioneer in the field of radar controlof fighter aircraft, a founding memberof the Oregon ANG, and a leader ofone of

the first radar units to be assigned tothe Air National Guard. The first ANGsquadron he commanded lives ontoday as the 116th Air ControlSquadron (ACS), Oregon Air NationalGuard. The 116th ACS training facilityat Rilea Armed Forces TrainingCenter, Warrenton, Ore., is dedicatedto the memory of Colonel John G.Nelson, a true citizen airman.

• ASSIGNMENTS1. November 1942 - June1943, Okmulgee, Florida2. July 1943 - October 1943,Cadet, AAF OCS, Miami, Florida3. November 1943 - January

1944, School of Applied Tactics,Miami,Florida

4. January 1944 - December1944, Bougainville, NorthernSolomans5. December 1944 - May 1945,various locations, PhilippineIslands6. May 1945 - November 1945,Luzon, Philippine Islands7. November 1945 - May 1946,Camp Pinedale, Berkely, CA.8. May 1946 - January 1947,San Francisco Control Group,CA.9. July 1947 - April

1951,142ACWS, Oregon AirNational Guard,Portland, OR

10. May 1951 - May 1952,Commander, Galena Air ForceStation,Alaska

11. June 1952 - January 1953,775ACWS, Cambria, California12. January 1953 - September1960,142ACWS, ORANG,Portland, OR13. October 1960 - February

1968,142Mobile Comm Sqdn,OfRANG,Portland, OR

14. February 1968 - December1969, Deputy Chief of Staff, OregonAirNational Guard, Portland, OR

15. January 1970 - June 1971,9003 Air Reserve Squadron

(Recruiting),Hamilton AFB, CA.

16. June 1971 - November 1973,Commander, 153rd Tactical ControlGroup, Oregon Air National Guard,Portland, OR

• MAJOR AWARDS ANDDECORATIONSPresidential Unit Citation (USMC)Marine Unit CitationGood Conduct MedalAmerican Defense Service MedalAmerican Campaign MedalAsian - Pacific Campaign Medal w/4Bronze Stars

(NorthSolomons, NewGuinea,Philippines,Luzon) World WarII Victory MedalNational DefenseService Medal AirForce LongevityService AwardArmed ForcesReserve MedalPhilippineLiberation RibbonPhilippineRepublicPresidential UnitCitation OregonNational GuardExceptionalService Medal

Current Members of the116th Air Control

Squadron

Commander: Director ofOperations Chief of MaintenanceFirst Sergeant

SSgt Mark L AkermanSrA Robert L. AllenSSgt Donald M. Bain IITSgt William R. Bair IIMSgt Robert E. BakerCMSgt Douglas J. BarnardMSgt Robert D. BirmanSMSgt Richard B. BoothSSgt Donald L. BosellMSgt Gregory L. BosinSSgt Loyal G. BossenTSgt Thomas A. BoucherMSgt Timothy R. BrickwegSSgt Timothy P. BuckSrA Brent A. BungerSSgt George M. BurdSSgt Monte S. CaldwellSSgt Michael C. CarrickSSgt Buddy L. CasperTSgt Robert W. ClevengerSrA John S. CloughTSgt Douglas A. ConradA1C Scott E. ConradSrA Damien S. CoxTSgt David C. DawsonTSgt Annette D. DeClueSSgt Randy S. DickensonTSgt Clinton J. DoyleMSgt Michael J. EllisMSgt Lewis D. FagerbergTSgt Winston J. FairbrotherSSgt Steve (NMI) FettersTSgt James G. FieldsSrA Amy D. FlockSSgt Andrew R. FranklinSSgt Blake Z. French

Lt Col Michael J. NugentMa] Timothy J. OlsonMaj Theodore J. LawsonMSgt Nicholas (NMI) Douvris

MSgt Richard A. FurnissSSgt Ryan M. GanttSSgt Bryan S. GarrettMSgt Ross E. GetchellSSgt Esteban D. GonzalezMSgt Larry R. GoodmanSSgt Paul E. GoodmanSgt Eric L. GrahamTSgt Gordon Q. GreenlandCapt Robert J. Gregory 111MSgt Gary L. GudgeA1C Matthew L. GudgeMSgt Robert A. HarnackTSgt Richard A. HenryTSgt Donald J. HillgaertnerSgt Kevin M. HoaglandSSgt Daniel W. HolmesTSgt Robert L. HughesTSgt John C. JacksonTSgt Jerry S. JohnstonSSgt Samantha (NMI) JohnstonTSgt Gary B. KaufmanTSgt Randall J. KovarSMSgt Donald L. KrugerSrA Christopher M. LacyMSgt Marc A. LacyMSgt Lyn S. LargeMSgt Randall H. LauSrA Eldan Y.H. LeeMSgt Ralph E. Lehman IIMSgt Mary E. LewisTSgt Jonathan (NMI) LittlefieldSMSgt JoanM. LoftisSSgt Albert L. LuquetteTSgt Gerald L. Maling

MSgt Larry A. MarcusSSgt Karl D. MartinSSgt George H. McMahanSMSgt Lawrence A. MebusTSgt Gregory S. MedinaSrA Perry G. MillerTSgt Roy V. Miller IIISMSgt RobertC. MoatTSgt Keith C. MoesTSgt Brian J. MondlochSSgt Roger D. MorrisTSgt Rodney L. MunsonAmn John S. MurphyMaj Joel F. PannebakerCapt George H. PedenTSgt John R. PetersonA1C Daniel Z. PhilbrookTSgt Arlen R. PhillipsSgt David H. PowellSSgt Jared L. PratherTSgt Howard D. PrinkTSgt Keith L. RaySSgt William J. RogersSSgt Bruce P. RuppSgt John D. Sampson

TSgt Douglas J. SauvageauMSgt David B. SchafferSgt Donald A. SergeantSSgt Aaron L.R. SextonSSgt Charles B. ShawSgt Angelie A. SmithSrA Jeromy J. SmithSSgt Timothy E. SmithSSgt Antone J. SpanbauerTSgt Theodore M. SteffanMaj Timothy D. StrohmeyerSSgt Edward F. StutesmanTSgt Lucille A. ThorntonTSgt Glenn T. TollettMSgt George E. WallingMSgt James R. WardTSgt Thomas J. WelkaTSgt David J. WhiteTSgt Scott C. WilliamsTSgt Laura L. WilsonMSgt Rusty (NMI)Zile

Current Members of the 116th Air Control Squadroncontinued

TSgt Scott E. Marlega

Past Commanders, 116th Air Control Squadron

June 1991 - December 1995 LTC Thomas P. JonsJune 1984-May 1991 LTC James T. FaullApril 1981 -May 1984 LTC Keith E. JohnsonMay 1978-March 1981 COL Daniel M. DuffyOctober 1975-ApriM 978 LTC Mark E. LuedtkeNovember 1974 - September 1975 LTC Donald R. TonoliFebruary 1973 - October 1974 COL Benjamin W. FaberJune 1971 - January 1973 COL Joel B. Krausse

Dignitaries on the PlatformMaj Gen Raymond F. ReesBrig Gen William F. Doctor

Col James M. Herron

LtCol Michael J. NugentHon Mrs Joan Dukes Mrs.Helen Nelson Lt Col (ret)James T. Faull

Oregon Adjutant GeneralCommander OR Air NationalGuard Special Assistant toOperations DirectorCommander, 116ACSOregon State Senator Wife ofCol John G. Nelson FormerCommander, 116TCS