Visit Fort D.A. Russell Days for a taste of living military history

Jul. 23—CHEYENNE — Just across the highway from Frontier Park, visitors can experience a different kind of unique Western history.

The 28th Fort D.A. Russell Days are continuing today and Sunday at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, and are free and open to the public.

Fort D.A. Russell Days act as the yearly open house held by the base, which is home to the 90th Missile Wing. But the three-day event provides much more than just a look at current military operations.

"Air Force history offices are meant to be the institutional memory of the operating, living wing, and we're meant to inform current operations." said Jeremiah Foster, the 90th Missile Wing historian. "One of my jobs is to try to have enough knowledge of what we've done, not just in the distant past, and it is important that we try to pull on our heritage, especially our World War II heritage, for inspiration."

Fort D.A. Russell Days ties into this mission, as it gives the Cheyenne community and active-duty Air Force members a chance to remember the base's history and use that knowledge to inform their lives today.

The base was initially a U.S. Army fort — Fort D.A. Russell — and was renamed to Fort Francis E. Warren in 1930 as a tribute to Wyoming's first governor. The base came under control of the U.S. Air Force in 1948, according to the base website.

Jim McDonnell, the lead volunteer for the Cheyenne Frontier Days Military Committee, said Fort D.A. Russell Days began after the Air Force encouraged every base to have an open house to engage with the surrounding community at least once a year. McDonnell said the director of the Warren ICBM and Heritage Museum at time time, Paula Taylor, came up with the idea of the Muskets to Missiles event.

To hold the base open house during Frontier Days was "just natural," McDonnell said.

"We have such a great relationship between the base and the population that it just made sense," McDonnell said.

Foster said that because the base has such a long history that predates the 90th Missile Wing, Fort D.A. Russell Days allows the wing to connect more with that history, too.

"I think that the wing has always taken a lot of stock of the base history and really tried to tie itself to that history," Foster said. "That's the thing, even being a different branch, we still come from the Army, so it's not too crazy for us. It's just part of the evolution that's taken place."

This history is what helps the current Air Force members make decisions today.

"For example, right now, we're rolling out the new Sentinel missile system," Foster said. "So, one thing we want to know for that is: 'How have we done this before?' And that's something that the history office can weigh in on, because we can look at the recent past."

Thanks to thorough documentation from one of the base's former historians, Foster said he can look at records from when the base brought in the Peacekeeper missile system and learn from those experiences, even though it was nearly 40 years ago.

During Fort D.A. Russell Days, visitors can interact with re-enactors from different eras of history, while also learning about current operations on the base.

Steve Mount is a World War II re-enactor who lives in Cheyenne. He said he's been involved with Fort D.A. Russell Days for about 20 years. Mount said he loves to restore vehicles, and he has multiple military Jeeps and even a tank set up for the Muskets to Missiles display.

"Basically, we've set up a tactical assembly area," Mount said. "So we've got our tent set up and our sleeping quarters. We've also got our office stuff, our communications. ... And then different types of rations that the World War II soldier would eat, and the vehicles."

All of the historical re-enactors are volunteers, McDonnell said, so the displays change every year, depending on who can attend.

On Friday, the 90th Missile Wing dedicated Quarter 64, one of the historic homes on base, to Benjamin O. Davis Sr. Davis Sr. lived in Quarter 64 in 1912 and later became the first African American one-star general in the U.S. armed forces.

"I'm actually a little ashamed that as the first African American 20th Air Force commander, I didn't have the opportunity of even identifying the need to lay this rock," said Gen. Anthony Cotton, the commander of Air Force Global Strike Command. "But I am so glad that as the first African American four-star of Air Force Global Strike, I get to come back and be a part of this ceremony."

To attend Fort D.A. Russell Days, visitors can take a free shuttle from Frontier Park to the Air Force base from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and Sunday, with the last bus leaving the base at 3:30 p.m. both days. During those hours, visitors can view the Muskets to Missiles displays and the Living History Camp Presentations.

From 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. both days, there also will be a guided bus tour of the base.

For a list of more events, visit the F.E. Warren AFB website at warren.af.mil/fort_darussell_days/ or check the CFD events calendar.

To access the base, visitors should go to the Gate 1 entrance off Randall Avenue and check in at the Visitor Control Center. Bring a photo I.D., and be prepared to provide your Social Security number for a background check. If driving onto the base, visitors will also need to present their vehicle registration and car insurance.

Serena Bettis is a senior journalism major at Colorado State University who is interning this summer at the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. She can be reached by email at sbettis@wyomingnews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @serenaroseb.