Under a bright blue sky in a brisk wind, officials dedicated a new Ronald Reagan monument Thursday morning at Vandenberg Air Force Base, 25 years after the 40th president's renowned speech advocating a national missile defense program.
On the North Base hilltop now crowned by a bust of Reagan on an 11-foot pedestal, Air Force and U.S. Missile Defense Agency officials gathered at the newly completed monument to honor Reagan and his vision for the missile system in which Vandenberg plays an important role.
The base is home to three interceptors, which sit in underground silos on North Base. Vandenberg also routinely participates in tests of operationally configured interceptors designed to intercept targets.
The last test of the country's missile defense system Sept. 28 involved a target that launched from Alaska and a successful interception by a missile that was launched from Vandenberg.
During an April 2006 ceremony attended by Reagan's widow, Nancy, officials announced that the missile defense facilities at Vandenberg would be named after the late president.
Lt. Gen. Henry A. “Trey” Obering, Missile Defense Agency director, presided over the ceremony and delivered the dedication speech. Other speakers included Riki Ellison, the founder and president of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, and Rep. Trent Franks, R-Arizona.
A color guard from Vandenberg's 100th Missile Defense Brigade support detachment raised the flag and musicians from the Air Force Band of the Golden West performed.
Base officials broke ground last summer on the memorial, which sits at the Del Puente Road launch-viewing site. That hilltop, which had nothing more than portable toilets and rusty bleachers, overlooks the northern part of Vandenberg, and has served as the spot where onlookers, including military members, contractors and their families, gather to watch missile tests.
A bust of the former president, first unveiled at the 2006 dedication, has been placed on top of the tall pedestal at the viewing site. The site also now has a 150-foot long walkway that ends in a 50-foot circle.
March 28, 2008
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