On Aug. 18, in front of a crowd of more than 150 family members, airmen, and civilians, five men who worked on Vandenberg Air Force Base’s first-ever missile launch answered questions and reminisced about the Golden Age of missile defense systems.
Darrell Cummings, Larry Newton, Dave Norlund, Dick Parker, and Phil Payne were the guests of honor at a three-day reunion celebrating the 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking launch of a Thor missile in 1958.
The reunion concluded with a special luncheon and question-and-answer panel, after which base officials presented the men with honorary coins commemorating their work on the Thor project.
“They really treated us royally,” said Parker, who helped coordinate the reunion.
While the actual 50th anniversary of the launch will be on Dec. 16, Parker said that he and his co-workers decided to hold the reunion in August in order to take advantage of the warm weather.
Members of the Thor project team and their families usually meet every five years at Solvang’s Nojoqui Falls Park to hold a reunion barbecue, but this year’s event was held a year early to coincide with the anniversary. The group still met at the park, but added a few more attractions to their itinerary.
The men, accompanied by three busloads of co-workers and their families, enjoyed a tour of Space Launch Complex 10 on
Aug. 16. The complex, which used to be one of the seven original launch sites for the Thor project, was recently turned into the base’s Heritage Museum, showcasing original launch technology, including a Thor missile.
“They spent a lot of time, effort, and money making it look just like it did back in the old days,” Parker said. “It was awe-inspiring.”
And Parker wasn’t the only one impressed by the tour.
“I was on the tour with all five of them, and they started telling me these crazy stories [about the base’s past], and I told them, ‘Well guys, I was supposed to be the tour guide, but you obviously know a lot more than I do,’” said 2nd Lt. Raymond Geoffroy.
Later, Parker shared some of his stories with the Sun.
“I joined the base five weeks before the first launch as an electronics technician,” Parker said, adding that he was one of the only Santa Maria natives working on base.
“At that point it wasn’t even called Vandenberg Air Force Base, it was still called Camp Cook Army Base,” he said. “All that was there was a bunch of old, wooden army barracks, sagebrush, and rattlesnakes.”
Parker worked on base for 36 years before retiring in 1995, and while a lot has changed since his days at the control board, he said coming back was “absolutely terrific.”
This article appears in Aug 21-28, 2008.