The following email excerpt was sent by John C. Fernandez, Major, USAF Ret., former Commanding Officer of the 714th, Det 5 at Port Heiden. Thanks, John.

The 714th was a unique DEW squadron. It was the only one that covered such a large area. It had five detachments, each located about 130 miles apart stretching from just west of King Salmon all the way to just before Shemya. In effect, they were responsible for radar coverage for all of the Aleutian Peninsula as well as the Aleutian Islands. No other squadron had such a mission. Each site had a search radar and troposcatter radio relay.

Staffing at the detachments included 3 cooks, one water treatment tech, one electrician, an admin/crypto specialist, one vehicle maintenence tech, the commander, three radio techs, a supply tech, a first Sgt, three radar techs, three power production techs and the remainder scope operators.

The detachments were located starting with Det 1 at Nikolski next to Shemya, Det 2 Cape Serichef, Det 3 Dutch Harbor, the Headquarters at Cold Bay, Det 4 Port Moller, Det 5 Port Heiden ( I was the det commander there from July 1965 to July 1966. Your information on the squadron says it became operational in 1969. That may be incorrect, it would be at least in 1964 or even a year earlier).

Each detachment was manned by 24 enlisted, one officer and in some instances a tech rep. Cold Bay had a larger complement. The manning of the squadron and the detachments was part of a "minimum manning" experiment. If you were assigned to a detachment you stayed there 365 without leave. Only way to leave early was due to severe sickness or a major emergency at home such as death of immediate family member (Dear John letters did not count as an emergency). Detachments did not even have a medic. One individual had additonal training in advanced first aid. Next level of medical help was by calling King Salmon and speaking with a doctor who would hear the symptoms and prescribe medication from the medication closet which each site had , ie. "take two pills from bottle # 3 three times a day". We even had some antibiotics in syringes for shots if necessary(had to do it once to one of the troops while I was there).

Final note, it would be nice if each 714th Detachment was listed as a separate site since it fact it was. Keep up the good work!