NEW BOOK Camp Cooke and Vandenberg Air Force Base 1941-1966 (Santa Maria)

NEW BOOK Camp Cooke and Vandenberg Air Force Base 1941-1966

Here s a great holiday or birthday gift idea for the history buff. Recently published this book examines the intriguing story of an Army training camp in California that sent thousands of soldiers overseas during World War II and the Korean War and produced six Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. During the war years Cooke also hosted many USO camp shows that attracted some of Hollywood s leading entertainers as well as many more from radio and stage. In 1957 the camp was turned over to the Air Force and a year later was renamed Vandenberg Air Force Base. The installation has since become America s only space and missile base. America s first spy satellite program known as Corona (code-named Discoverer) was conducted from Vandenberg. The intelligence data collected from these missions exploded the myth of a missile gap with the Soviet Union. At the height of the Cold War America s first ICBM missile equipped with a nuclear warhead was based at Vandenberg. Among the high-profile visitors to the base was President John F. Kennedy who witnessed the launch of an Atlas missile. And as part of an unprecedented trip to the United States Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev passed through the base on a locomotive in 1959. 284pp. Softcover (6 x 9) 2014 102 photos 5 maps appendices notes bibliography and index. Publisher McFarland & Company. www.mcfarlandpub.com To find out how to order a signed copy of the book directly from the author (me) for 36.95 postage free please respond to this ad. Thank You Jeffrey E. Geiger