Facility Names

Many buildings, structures, and military family housing areas, on Kadena Air Base, have been named after famous Air Force members. The following gives a brief description of the honorees:

Bazley Towers - Named in 1986 for retiring Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Air Forces, Gen. Robert W. Bazley.

Clark Vista Area
 - Lt. Gen. Albert P. Clark commanded the 313th Air Division, the host unit at Kadena Air Base, at the time of the construction of this housing area (1964-65). 

Emery Lanes
 - Named for retired MSgt William I. Emery after his passing in 2001. He served as the manager of Kadena Air Base All-Star Lanes bowling center.

Gregory Hall 
- The Pacific Air Forces Non-Commissioned Officers Academy named this dormitory in 1989 after Gen. Jack I. Gregory, a former Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Air Forces, instrumental in renovating and refurbishing the Academy.

Hagerstrom Pool
 - Named in 1959 for Col. James P. Hagerstrom, 8th Fighter Squadron, who scored six aerial victories in World War II and 8.5 more for the 67th Fighter Squadron in Korea. 

Hershey TLF
 - The lodging facility was named after CMSgt Harris I. Hershey. He was appointed to that rank in 1959, the first chief of the 313th Air Division, then the host unit on Kadena Air Base.

Jennings Area
 - Col. Payne Jennings commanded the 19th Bomb Group, a Kadena Air Base unit during the Korean War. He died in 1951 when his B-29 lost two engines en route to Korea and vanished in an attempt to return to Kadena Air Base. (He had been ordered not to jettison the 12,000-pound, radio-guided bomb under any circumstances and vainly tried to return to Kadena Air Base with the weapon aboard.)

Johnson Dining Facility
 - Col. James K. Johnson commanded the 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing during the Korean conflict. It was named in 1959 for the only double jet ace wing commander and the only commander of a supersonic bomb wing; he notched 10 aerial victories.

Kenney Housing/Park
 - Gen. George C. Kenney served as General MacArthur's air commander and as the first Commander of the Far East Air Forces. A great innovator and problem solver, he pioneered the concepts of skip bombing against enemy shipping, mounted machine guns on wings instead of the cowling, and attached parachutes to bombs allowing low-level bombers to escape their own bomb blast.

Larson Hall
 - Lt. Col. Doyle E. Larson was the first commander of the 6990th Security Squadron (forerunner of the 390th Intelligence Squadron), organized at Kadena Air Base in 1967. He later commanded and oversaw the transition of U.S. Air Force Security Service to the Electronic Security Command.

Marek Park
 - Dedicated in 1985 for Col. Frank E. Marek, a popular and dynamic commander of the 824th Support Group at Kadena from 1966-69. 
Marshall Dining Facility - Named in 1959 for Lt. Col. Winton W. Marshall, 335th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, who recorded 6.5 enemy kills in Korea.

O'Donnell Gardens
 - Gen. Emmett O'Donnell commanded the Far East Air Forces Bomb Command during the Korean conflict. He later became Commander-in Chief Pacific Air Forces.

Overton Pool
 - Named in 1959 for Capt. Dolphin D. Overton III, 16th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, who registered 5 aerial triumphs in Korea. 
Risner Fitness Complex - Brig. Gen. Robinson Risner, Jr., former World War II pilot, scored eight aerial victories in Korea for the 339th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron. Later a commander of the 67th Fighter Squadron, he was shot down over North Vietnam and held prisoner for seven years.

Rodrigues Park
 - Airman Mark S. Rodrigues was killed in 1979 in a backhoe accident during the construction of the park, an off-duty, self-help project.

Schilling Recreation Center
 - Named in 1959 for Col. David C. Schilling, 56th Fighter Group, who accumulated 22.5 enemy kills (five in one day) during World War II.

Stearley Heights
 - Named for Maj. Gen. Ralph F. Stearley while he commanded Twentieth Air Force (1950-53), headquartered at Kadena Air Base.

Stillwell Park
 - Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell took command of the 10th Army on Okinawa in June 1945. He received the surrender of Japanese forces in the Ryukyu Islands on 7 September 1945 in the present location of Stearley Heights.

Strickland Dining Facility
 - Early aviation pioneer Brig. Gen. Auby C. Strickland was the first "refueling boom operator"; he manually lowered the 30-foot hose from a C-1 that refueled the famous Question Mark on its record-breaking endurance flight in 1929. He later commanded the 19th Pursuit Squadron, 18th Pursuit Group (now the 18th Wing), in Hawaii.

Voice of America Housing
 - The small housing areas near Gate 1 known as the Voice Of America and Foreign Broadcast Information Service areas are named after the original occupants. The area was built for personnel assigned to the Voice Of America organization that operated a transmitter site at Okuma prior to the 1972 reversion. Foreign Broadcast Information Service personnel had worked at Yomitan.

Young Hall
 - Building 3534; see Young Street Description.