NAS Keflavik stenger

[Savipix]

Commander, Navy Region Europe
Public Affairs Office
Lieutenant Commander Wendy Snyder
39-081-568-4727 (Tel)
39-335-719-5414 (Cell)
wendy.snyder@eu.navy.mil



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland, Sept. 8, 2006. Today a small ceremony took place at the base chapel to mark the disestablishment of Naval Air Station Keflavik after more than 40 years of dedicated service.

The Honorable Carol van Voorst, U. S. Ambassador to Iceland and other distinguished guests attended the short ceremony. Remarks were given by Ambassador Thorsteinn Ingolfsson, Special Envoy for the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Rear Admiral Noel Preston, Commander, Navy Region Europe, and Captain Mark Laughton, Commanding Officer, Naval Air Station Keflavik.

In March 1943, the first aircraft landed on the newly constructed Meeks Field, now part of the Keflavik International Airport, marking the Naval Air Station’s earliest beginnings. Throughout the remainder of WWII, this airfield was to be the largest and one of the most important in Europe. American forces were in Iceland due to an agreement with the Icelandic Government and at the suggestion of NATO, to provide for the defense of this strategic North Atlantic area.

On July 1, 1961 the U. S. Navy, in view of its increasingly active role in the defense of the NATO, assumed the host responsibility from the U. S. Air Force and established the U. S. Naval Air Station, Keflavik (NASKEF). The mission of NASKEF was to maintain and operate facilities, and provide services and materials to support designated by the Chief of Naval Operations.

Naval Air Station Keflavik was the largest command at Keflavik and consisted of 17 departments. NASKEF was the home to 4,000 active duty personnel and their families, and the station employed over 850 Icelandic personnel. On September 30, 2006, NASKEF will be closed with no remaining personnel or operations.

“Our success over the past 45 years and the success of our countries depended on your loyalty and your willingness to do what was right. Indeed the loyalty displayed by you benefited naval Air Station Keflavik and helped to bring an end to the Cold War. Thank you for your personal sacrifice to complete our mission. Thank you for keeping safety at the forefront of everything we did and for maintaining the highest standards of conduct; and, for your personal and professional integrity and unquestionable morality, ethics, commitment for the good of the Air Station.” Captain Mark Laughton, Commanding Officer, Naval Air Station Keflavik.

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