Andersen base gears up for ‘Christmas Drop’

Posted on Dec 04 2014

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam—Andersen Air Force Base will host the “Push Ceremony” for the 63rd Annual Operation Christmas Drop here on Dec. 9 at 9am.

This year, volunteers from the 36th Wing collected an estimated 51,000 lbs of supplies, non-perishable food items and toys that will be air-dropped to 55 islands throughout the Micronesian and Palauan islands between Dec. 9 and 14 by C-130 Hercules aircrews from the 374th Airlift Wing at Yokota Air Base, Japan.

Operation Christmas Drop is the longest-running humanitarian mission supported by the Department of Defense. The annual mission began in 1952 when an aircrew assigned to Andersen was flying over the Micronesian island of Kapingamarangi when they noticed residents waving to them. The crew decided to gather some items they had on the plane, which they placed in a container with a parachute attached and dropped the cargo as they circled.

Since then, more than 850,000 lbs of supplies have been dropped throughout the region containing approximately 30,000 residents. (AAFB)

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