HERITAGE MINUTE

The Air Force Academy cemetery is a somber and dignified focal point of the Academy's commitment to those who have gone before. It opened in September 1958 shortly after the cadet wing moved from Lowery Air Force base in Denver to its permanent location here, north of Colorado Springs. One gage of the facility's stature and importance is the people who have chosen it as their final resting place....

Traveling around the 18,500-acre Air Force Academy campus, one can see breathtaking natural scenery, modern architecture, and tributes to Air Force and Academy pioneers.  ----more---- There is a place that features all of these attributes:  the Academy Cemetery.  Nestled amid pine trees east of the Cadet Area, the 100-acre facility is the final resting place for nearly 2,000 individuals.  The buri...

During his days as a cadet, Col. (Retired) Jim Moschgat ’77 made a remarkable discovery: one of the Academy’s janitors was a Medal of Honor recipient. Listen now to hear the amazing story of William Crawford.     The Heritage Minute Channel is a production of the Long Blue Line Podcast Network and presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association and Foundation    

April 1, 1954 is the day President Dwight D. Eisenhower shook hands with then Secretary of the Air Force, Harold E. Talbott. The president had just signed legislation authorizing the establishment of the U.S. Air Force Academy. USAFA’s Founders Day has been celebrated on April 1 ever since.    (Left Image) President Dwight D. Eisenhower (seated) shakes hands with Secretary of the Air Force Harold...

In this Heritage Minute Special: Col. (Ret.) Darrel Whitcomb '69 recently led a reunion of his classmates and emceed a briefing outlining their roles during the Vietnam War. The group heard from fellow pilots, search-and-rescue team members and former POWs. Join the conversation between host Lt. Col. (Ret.) Steve Simon ’77 and Col. Whitcomb, a passionate historian and published author with a great...

Located just west of the Service and Supply Area at the south end of the Academy is Ice Lake.  A century ago, it was bustling with industry.  ----more---- During the winter, this lake, and several others in the Colorado Springs-Monument area, would freeze solid.  Workers would harvest the ice using a one-handed version of the loggers saw.  The ice, cut into blocks, would be used to preserve perish...

In this edition of Heritage Minute Special, host Lt. Col. (Ret.) Steve Simon ’77 is holding a reunion of sorts. ----more---- His guest is a hire of his from a few years back. Meredith Harlow is the Academy’s Curator of Artifacts. Listen in as the two discuss Meredith’s background, and the work she does preserving the things at make USAFA’s history and heritage unique.   The Heritage Minute Channel...

Tucked away in the Douglass Valley woods, along the stretch of the Falcon Trail between the Community Center and Falcon Stadium is the oldest structure on the Academy and one of the oldest in the Pikes Peak region.  ----more---- This is officially called the Pioneer Cabin.  It has been known as the Capps Cabin, but in reality was built by William A. Burgess, another early settler.  Around 1870, Le...

In this edition of the Heritage Minute Special podcast, host Lt. Col. (Ret.) Steve Simon ‘77 is speaking with the Academy’s Command Historian, Dr. Brian Laslie.  During this conversation, we get into his love of history and how that led him to  the Academy.   The Heritage Minute Channel is a production of the Long Blue Line Podcast Network and presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association an...

The “Gallery of Great Airmen” is an artistic gem located in the Exemplar area of Fairchild Hall.  ----more---- The large display features portraits of 68 leaders.  Included are such iconic Americans as the Wright Brothers, Amelia Earhart, General Benjamin O. Davis Junior, Bob Hope, and General Jimmy Stewart.  The Falcon Foundation donated the works of art to the Academy on 6 May 1966.  Many of the...

Maj. (Ret.) Don Rightmyer ’73 has spent a lifetime chronicling and preserving history. Like Heritage Minute Special host, Steve Simon ’77, he has a love of history. Unlike Steve, who developed his passion for the field only about 20 years ago, Maj. Rightmyer's dates back to his days as a USAFA cadet. These kindred spirits have been drawn together by their mutual interest in history and heritage. ...

There is an artifact in the Academy’s Community Center area that predates the Academy by more than 140 years.  ----more---- In 1813, townspeople in and around Neuville, in the Normandy region of France, raised funds for a church bell.  Before the end of the year, the resultant bell took its place in the church’s Gothic bell tower.  As is customary in France, the bell was given a name - Caroline An...

A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1977, hockey player Chuck Delich is a living legend and he continues to contribute to the game to this day. Enjoy this conversation with Chuck's classmate and host of the Heritage Minute Special series, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Steve Simon ‘77.         The Heritage Minute Channel is a production of the Long Blue Line Podcast Network and presented by the U.S. Air...

This is where it all began.  July eleventh, 1955, 306 basic cadets arrived at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado, to begin their journey at the United States Air Force Academy.  ----more---- Not much remains of the former base.  But if you listen intently enough, you can still hear the faint echoes of the first members of the Long Blue Line.  President Dwight Eisenhower signed legislation th...

Host, Steve Simon’77, is joined by Colonel (Retired) Randy Helms, USAFA Class of ’79.  Among his many accomplishments, he leads the Association of Graduates’ Class Advisory Senate. The two get into that and many other topics in this conversation.     The Heritage Minute Channel is a production of the Long Blue Line Podcast Network and presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association and Foundat...

When it’s all about holding up our end of the historical preservation and Academy story telling mission… Beginning Sunday, January 5, history makers, observers and your favorite historical story teller, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Steve Simon ’77, all meet in the same place the 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month and you get to listen in!      The Heritage Minute Channel is a production of the Long Blue Line Podc...

In the early 1960s, some enterprising residents of Douglass Valley tried to build a neighborhood ski area in the west end of the valley.  ----more---- Evidence of the ski tow structure they built survives to this day.  A Department of Defense map of the academy identified a ski tow in the far south west corner of the academy reservation.  Documents discovered in the McDermott Library’s Special Col...

The production of USAFA’s cadet sabers has moved from Germany to Colorado Springs. Heritage Minute Special host Lt. Col. (Ret.) Steve Simon ’77 is closely connected with the people and the processes and explains the change. MORE ABOUT STEVE SIMON Steve and his wife, Paula, are not only charter members, but Steve is a founding signatory on the original agreement to form the group back in 1994. In a...

Almost all of the Air Force Academy football games are televised, drawing large national audiences.  ----more---- For most of those viewers, Falcon Stadium is their primary view of the Academy.  Consequently, it is important that the facility help tell the story of the Academy and the Air Force.  That was the rationale behind recent efforts to utilize the stadium as a venue to inform and inspire f...

Before there was an Air Force Academy, the 18,500 acres that now host USAFA had a few settlements, most notably the small community called Husted.  ----more---- Located just south of the Academy’s North Gate bridge along the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad and the New Santa Fe Regional Trail, Husted began in the early 1870s.  Railroaders and citizens of the area chose to name the community a...

Best known for the “Run to the Rock,” a key rite-of-passage milestone in Doolie-year training, Cathedral Rock, has an interesting history. ----more---- The imposing 120-foot high formation is made of volcanic clay and sandstone.  The geologic wonder at the west end of Jacks Valley has had, and continues to have, importance to Native American tribes.  Later, pioneers would visit the site.  Many of...

The Sabre Society came into existence 30 years ago when the Air Force Academy joined with the Association of Graduates in 1995 to sign a MOU. ----more---- Thus the Sabre Society was established. Since then, a great many programs have been funded benefiting USAFA and its cadets. Join founder, Col. (Ret.) John Kelly ’65 and Heritage Minute Special host Lt. Col. (Ret.) Steve Simon ’77 for an inside l...

One of the Academy’s best, and mostly unknown, historical artifacts is located on the campus of the Air Force Academy Preparatory School.  The North American F-100 Super Sabre aircraft on static display here has an amazing history. ----more---- First, some background:  On May twenty-first, 1927, aviator Charles Lindbergh landed his aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis, near Paris, completing the firs...

The Academy is home to a large number of impressive static display aircraft.  In addition to those in populated areas, there is one aircraft well off the beaten path, just to the west of the Academy, that predates the others by decades. ----more---- It is a static display of sorts, though decidedly not on purpose.  And it is way up there, on the side of Blodgett Peak.  Let’s go have a look! The mo...

Lots of colleges and universities have radio stations, but there is only one KAFA! ----more---- The station was the brainchild of then-Cadet John Severski, Class of ’71, and came into being only due to the perseverance and ingenuity of John, several other like-minded cadets, and a few supportive USAFA staff members.  It was a classic Do-It-Yourself project, as they begged, borrowed, and scrounged...