Airmen deliver holiday supplies to islanders

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Karen J. Tomasik
  • 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan (AFPN) --  Airmen here teamed up with people from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and the surrounding Guam communities to airlift Christmas supplies to more than 50 Micronesian islands. This was the 51st anniversary of the Christmas Drop mission.

Four C-130 Hercules aircraft from the 36th Airlift Squadron arrived Dec. 14 and 15 to prepare the aircraft and crews to drop more than 80 boxes of Christmas gifts and supplies to the islands through Dec. 19. This year’s mission will bring more than just Christmas good will since many of the islands were hit by a super typhoon just a few weeks earlier, officials said.

“Last year, Guam was hit by Super Typhoon Pongsana, and this year we will be sending the first humanitarian relief to many islands hit by Super Typhoon Lupit just before Thanksgiving,” said Capt. Christopher Carmichael, chairman for the Christmas Drop committee. “The water tables of these islands were flooded with saltwater destroying the islanders’ crops for the year, so they are in desperate need for fresh water and food supplies.”

The Christmas Drop tradition serves as a semiannual training mission that started in 1952. Then, the aircrew of a WB-50 aircraft assigned to the 54th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, formerly assigned to Andersen, was flying a mission south of Guam over Kapingamaringi and saw islanders waving to them. The crew quickly gathered various items they had on the plane, placed them in a container with a parachute attached and dropped the cargo as they circled again.

“On behalf of the 36th, I am honored to have the opportunity to be part of a tradition started 51 years ago that continues today to benefit and spread Christmas good will and good relations to the Micronesian islands,” said Lt. Col. Chuck Eastman, 36th AS director of operations and Christmas Drop detachment commander.

Each box dropped weighs nearly 400 pounds and contains items such as fishing nets, construction materials, powdered milk, canned goods, rice, coolers, clothing, shoes, toys and school supplies. Humanitarian-aid boxes contain water and food.

Guam businesses and residents donate many of the goods while the Christmas Drop committee purchases items with money from fund-raisers held throughout the year.

“Christmas Drop couldn’t come together without the more than $100,000 in donations by the people of Guam,” Carmichael said. “Yokota’s C-130 aircraft complete the mission by dropping the supplies to the islanders.”

The mission affects many people during the Christmas season; not just the islanders receiving the supplies being dropped.

“If we can’t be with our families right now, we are in a position to bring supplies, humanitarian aid and Christmas good will to isolated communities,” said Maj. Steve Sharpe, 36th AS chief pilot and Christmas Drop aircraft commander. “There’s no better feeling than seeing the islanders wave to our aircraft after receiving those supplies.”