Vintage Air Force veteran visits his unit 56 years later

  • Published
  • By Air Force Staff Sgt. Kyle Brown
  • 381st Intelligence Squadron
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  In early June, the 381st Intelligence Squadron on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson welcomed back one of its own.

Seventy-eight-year-old Forrest St. Aubin made his first trip to Alaska since completing his tour in 1955.

The unit's leadership quite literally rolled out the red carpet and employed an eight-man cordon to welcome St. Aubin back to his old unit.

"I thought I was just going to take some pictures of the building," St. Aubin said as he took in the welcome.

The unit also arranged for St. Aubin to see some of his old stomping grounds while on base and also arranged a lunch at the unit where members could ask him questions about his time on Elmendorf Air Force Base.

In 1953, then-Airman Second Class St. Aubin arrived at Elmendorf as one of the initial cadre of Russian Linguists to occupy the newly constructed building, which was then named the 3rd Radio Squadron Mobile.

"I left before any of you were even born," he said gesturing to some of the senior leadership. "Out of an original 49 in my linguist class, there are only 25 of us left."
As a young Airman from Missouri, he asked for an assignment to Alaska instead of one of the more exotic overseas assignments.

"It was an adventure - Alaska was still a territory," he said.

He recalled that the unit was often on alert, given the tensions of the Cold War, and spent long hours at the office.

"We'd work so much during the winter we wouldn't see the sun for a month," he said.
He told the gathered Airmen of the 381st some of the more memorable moments from his time in Alaska.

"I loved my job, I loved being here... you could just hop on a train heading out of Anchorage and pull the cord when you wanted to get off at your favorite fishing spot."
He also recounted a time in early 1954 when Anchorage shopkeepers were less than happy with the military in Alaska.

"(The Air Force) paid us all in two-dollar bills so the town would see how much we spent... and we never heard much more about it," he said, smiling.
Most memorably, St. Aubin and his buddies rehabilitated a young moose - something that would never be allowed now.

"We found this calf moose up behind the unit whose mother had died. We put her inside the unit's fence and fed her milk out of a ketchup bottle. When she got older, I'm pretty sure she got our entire vegetable ration. We had to let her go in the fall when the bull moose started stalking around outside the fence," he said.

One of the most interesting parts of the visit for St. Aubin, he said, was a tour of the "Elephant Cage" antenna behind the 381st, which was built years after he left the unit.
Upon entering the complex, he stared at the giant antenna.

"Holy s***, we never had anything like that!"
A must-see for St. Aubin during his visit was Green Lake. He recalled many a good time up at Green Lake with buddies.

"There used to be a beach over there," he said, pointing to the water's edge. While taking pictures of the lake, he remembered one of his first bosses from his assignment at Elmendorf.

He went back to the car, found his notebook of contacts and called his old friend in Texas.

"Fred, you'll never guess where I am right now. Green Lake on Elmendorf!"
The leadership of the unit was glad to see one of their own return for a visit.
"Mr. St. Aubin is one of the last of the pioneers and a true national treasure. We owe him and his colleagues a great debt of gratitude for blazing the trail before us in keeping the nation safe," said Jeffrey Bolenbaugh, deputy commander of the Alaska Mission Operations Center.

More than a half a century has passed since St. Aubin's assignment to Elmendorf.
Missions have changed and faces have come and gone, but the lasting impression of a tour in Alaska is indelible to those who have served here.

St. Aubin was born in September 1932 and enlisted in the Air Force in December 1951 as a Russian linguist.

He retired from the Army Reserves in 1985 as a lieutenant colonel.
St. Aubin currently lives in Kansas.