Operation Christmas Drop Gears Up

For the 58th straight year, airmen at Andersen AFB, Guam, will undertake Operation Christmas Drop this month, delivering donated provisions and gifts to inhabitants of remote Pacific islands. This year, C-130s will airdrop 60 palletized containers to roughly 50 islands and atolls Dec. 13-17. “For many men, women, and children living across the Pacific, Christmas begins when they see the US Air Force overhead,” said 36th Wing vice commander Col. Tod Fingal. The annual airdrop is the only contact many of these inhabitants have with the wider world and they depend on the assistance, he added. The annual drop began in 1952 with a spontaneous act of generosity by a WB-50 crew that dropped items they had onboard to waving strangers below. A non-profit organization run by Andersen volunteers and local Guam community members makes the operation possible. (Andersen report by A1C Anthony Jennings)