History buffs to get chance to tour Nellis Air Force Base

It’s impossible to deny that Nevada was a major player in World War II. Between Basic Magnesium in Henderson, which processed magnesium for airplane parts and bomb making , and the Las Vegas Army Air Corps Gunnery School, which eventually became Nellis Air Force Base, the state served an important role in winning the war.

A daylong history seminar titled WWII: From a Largely Nevada Perspective is scheduled on April 27 at Nellis Air Force Base. Civilians who would like to attend need to sign up soon. Due to the mandatory three-week clearance process to get on the base, the deadline for registration is April 2.

The event is organized by the nonprofit Nevada Council for History Education, a state affiliate of the National Council for History Education.

“We do one of these big events every year,” said Joyce O’Day, state coordinator for the group. “Last year, when the Mob Museum opened up, we held our event there. It was a no-brainer.”

Previous events have focused on diverse historical topics including Native Americans in Southern Nevada, the Civil Rights Movement in Southern Nevada and Boulder City and Hoover Dam.

“We meet six times a year and decide what the focus of the event will be,” O’Day said. “We’ve had some great events, and we’re always trying to figure out how to top ourselves.”

This year’s event is an all-day affair, kicking off at 7:30 a.m. and including lectures on WWII in Nevada and the history of Nellis Air Force Base, women in the military and the Henderson and Boulder City connections to the war.

“We expect we’ll have about 50 people there,” O’Day said. “We have about 30 signed up already. Usually we get a lot of last-minute sign-ups, but that’s not an option because of the three-week clearance.”

One of the highlights planned is a bus tour of the base and a Red Flag presentation. Red Flag is a multiweek training program designed to teach personnel from the U.S. Air Force and the Allied Forces the nuts and bolts of air combat. Due to the sequestration, it is possible that the April Red Flag exercises will be the last for this year.

“We’ve already scrubbed the season for the Thunderbirds (U.S. Air Force demonstration team),” said Don Wheaton, historian for the 57th Wing at Nellis Air Force Base. “We haven’t heard anything official, but we’re preparing for the possibility.”

The last lecture of the day, before a period of evaluation and reflection, is set to be a presentation by O’Day titled Normandy Invasion: The Emancipation of Europe.

The presentation is the result of an intensive study on the subject she undertook last year as part of the Albert H. Small Student/Teacher Institute, as part of National History Day.

O’Day read six books on the subject and went to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., for a week of intense lectures and research in the National Archive. The event culminated in a five-day trip to Normandy, where she walked the beaches and terrain she’d been reading about.

“It was a great experience, and I look forward to sharing it with other educators and history enthusiasts,” O’Day said.

The war had a direct personal effect on O’Day. Her father served in the Pacific, and her uncle was among the troops who landed at Normandy.

“My uncle didn’t want to talk about it, and we weren’t allowed to bring it up,” O’Day said. “I talked to my cousin, and he couldn’t even tell me which beach he got off at, Omaha or Utah.”

Thanks to support from Nevada Humanities and Silver State Schools Credit Union, the cost of the seminar was kept to $10, which includes lunch and the bus tour. There is no charge for Nevada Council for History Education members.

For more information, visit nvche.org or call O’Day at 702-332-3149.

Contact Sunrise/Whitney View reporter F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@viewnews.com or 702-380-4532.