Operation Christmas Drop is a tradition that started in 1952 that serves as a training mission for the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

. It has since become the longest-running

U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...

mission in full operation, and the longest-running humanitarian airlift in the world. Supported by the local communities of

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, it is primarily conducted from Andersen Air Force Base and

Yokota Air Base , is a Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) and United States Air Force (USAF) base in the Tama Area, or Western Tokyo. It occupies portions of Akishima, Fussa, Hamura, Mizuho, Musashimurayama, and Tachikawa. The base houses 14,000 perso ...

, and targets

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

Description

The drop is the oldest ongoing Department of Defense mission which remains in full operation, and the longest running humanitarian airlift in the world. By 2006, more than of supplies were delivered. The operation gives troops the chance to practice humanitarian aid drops, which they may later be expected to conduct during deployment. Volunteers from Andersen Air Force Base, including 734th Air Mobility Squadron, and both crew and aircraft from the

36th Airlift Squadron The 36th Airlift Squadron is an airlift squadron of the United States Air Force. It is part of the 374th Operations Group (374th Airlift Wing) at Yokota Air Base, Japan. It is the only forward-based tactical airlift squadron in the United Stat ...

, Japan, participate in the operation. Members of the Guam community also help the operation. Money is raised for the operation by sponsored activities such as golf tournaments and sponsored runs, as well as local businesses sponsoring individual boxes. Each box dropped from a

C-130 The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 ...

aircraft weighs nearly and contains items such as fishing nets, construction materials, powdered milk, canned goods, rice, coolers, clothing, shoes, toys and school supplies. The containers are dropped in water just off the beaches in order to avoid them hitting the locals.

History

The operation was first conducted in 1951, when the aircrew of a WB-29 aircraft assigned to the 54th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, formerly assigned to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, was flying a mission to the south of Guam over the Micronesian atoll of

Kapingamarangi Kapingamarangi is an atoll and a municipality in the state of Pohnpei of the Federated States of Micronesia. It is by far the most southerly atoll or island of the country and of the Caroline Islands, south of the next southerly atoll, Nukuoro, ...

. When they saw the islanders waving to them, the crew quickly gathered some items they had on the plane, placed them in a container with a parachute attached and dropped the cargo as they circled again. A witness to the first drop on the island of Agrigan said "We saw these things come out of the back of the airplane and I was yelling: 'There are toys coming down'". At the time the island had no electricity or running water, and the islands were periodically hit by typhoons. Some of the first containers failed to arrive where intended, and islanders swam out to retrieve some, while others were discovered months later some miles away. The 2006 operation saw 140 boxes dropped to 59 islands. The 2011 operation included dropping twenty five boxes of IV fluids to Fais Island in order to combat a local outbreak of dengue fever. In 2014, The Pacific Air Forces delivered 50,000 pounds of supplies to 56 Micronesian Islands. In 2015, the

Japan Air Self-Defense Force The , , also informally referred to as the Japanese Air Force, is the air and space branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, responsible for the defense of Japanese airspace, other air and space operations, cyberwarfare and electronic warf ...

and the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

participated in the operation along with the United States Air Force. Japan and Australia each provided one C-130 Hercules to join the three C-130s provided by the United States. The JASDF and RAAF also participated in the 2016 and 2017 operations. December 2017 marked the inaugural training event for the new C-130J from Yokota AB as well as the first quad-lateral event with the JASDF, RAAF and Philippine Air Force. In response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Micronesian president

David Panuelo David W. Panuelo (born April 13, 1964) is a Micronesian politician who is serving as the president of the Federated States of Micronesia. His term started on May 11, 2019. Biography Panuelo was born on the island of Pohnpei, where he complete ...

opted out of the 69th Operation Christmas Drop in 2020. According to master sergeant Anthony Biecheler, the drop will continue as planned over the

Republic of Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

and the US Air Force has taken extensive measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 from the deliveries.

In media

Operation Christmas Drop is fictionally portrayed in a Netflix film of the same name. The film debuted on the platform on November 5th, 2020 and stars

Kat Graham Katerina Alexandre Hartford Graham (born September 5, 1989) is an American actress, singer and dancer (now distributing music under the stage name Toro Gato). She is widely known for her role as Bonnie Bennett on The CW supernatural drama ser ...

and Alexander Ludwig.

References

US, Japan to kick off Operation Christmas Drop despite COVID-19 By Tech. Sgt. Nick Wilson, Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs / Published November 25, 2020 https://www.pacaf.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2428472/us-japan-to-kick-off-operation-christmas-drop-despite-covid-19/

External links

* {{official website, https://www.andersen.af.mil/ocd 1952 establishments in Guam Christmas events and celebrations Christmas in the United States Christmas traditions Federated States of Micronesia culture Guamanian culture Humanitarian aid Humanitarian missions of the United States Air Force Christmas Drop Recurring events established in 1952

Description

History

In media

See also

References

External links