Visit commemorates communications pioneer

  • Published
  • By Katherine Kebisek
  • Air Force Network Integration Center
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFNS) --  Air Force Network Integration Center officials welcomed the family and friends of Lt. Gen. Harold W. Grant here March 28 to learn more about the late general's legacy and see firsthand the building named in his honor.

Grant is recognized as a communications pioneer who avidly worked to ensure Air Force operators had the best communications support possible. Throughout his more than 35-year Air Force career he held numerous communications and leadership positions. He was the first commander of the Air Force Communications Service, an early predecessor of AFNIC, from 1961-1962. Under his leadership, the command's more than 50,000 Airmen provided airways communications, air traffic control, much of the long-haul and some base-level communications.

The Lt. Gen. Harold W. Grant building was dedicated in 1989 and houses various base organizations including AFNIC and the Air Mobility Command Directorate of Communications. The facility features a heritage hall with numerous historical artifacts that tell the story of the Air Force communications and information mission, including several highlights of Grant's contributions.

Grant's son Bruce was particularly impressed with how his father's legacy had been preserved and is still honored today.

"I had no idea there was this level of attention to detail to the mission and (my father's) career," he said. "This means so much to me."

During the tour, Bruce Grant recognized several artifacts, including early drawings of the AFCS shield, which he said he remembered his father spending a great deal of time perfecting.

The visit also provided a unique opportunity to three of General Grant's grandchildren who, while they remembered and spent time with their grandfather, never fully understood the scope of how significant his Air Force contributions were.

"(The visit) helped me understand his place in Air Force history," said Andrew Grant, one of the general's grandchildren. "It helped give me a broad understanding of his role, what he did, and helped situate the facts that I do know about him into a larger narrative."

In addition to a tour of the building, the group also met with Col. Curt Piontkowsky, the AFNIC commander, to learn about AFNIC and how the Air Force communications and information mission has evolved into today's cyber mission.

"It's tremendous to see that (AFNIC) is doing what it's doing," Bruce Grant said. "Having a little background in this business of computers and communications myself ... it's reassuring to know that you do what you do, and we're so proud."

Piontkowsky's mission briefing led Bruse Grant particularly to note AFNIC's commitment to taking care of its people. He said he felt it was his father's most important legacy, too.

"He was always concerned about and helping others," he said. "This is so much more than wires and computers; it's about people."

"It's in our legacy to take care of our people," Piontkowsky said. "General Grant helped teach us that, which is part of the reason we memorialize him today."