512th OG dedicates new heritage room

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Andria J. Allmond
  • 512th Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  The 512th Operations Group unveiled its heritage room in the 512th OG building Nov.1. 

Heritage rooms, a tradition throughout most U.S. Air Force flying units, represent the unit's legacy through pictures and artifacts displayed on the walls.
Not only is the room a place for retaining a unit's past, it also supplies the operations group with a place to call their own and make fresh memories. The 512th Airlift Wing flyers finally have that place. 

"Most wings have a heritage room, and we never had one before today," said Capt. Christian Fiore, 326th Operations Group assistant chief of tactics. "It's a place for flyers to go when they're done for the day and need to de-brief, converse or celebrate an event. Esprit de corps is the whole idea behind it." 

The area designated for the heritage room, which came into fruition purely on internally donated funds, was created when the 512th OG building was under construction to accommodate the new C-17 flying squadron at Dover, said Captain Fiore. When the plans for the building were being drawn up, an extra space was placed into those plans. That additional area would evolve into the heritage room. The room was not only born from blueprints but also by a passion for this piece of Air Force culture. 

"It was May 2006, and I hadn't arrived at the unit yet," said Col. Darrell Young, 512th OG commander. "I was talking with Colonel David H. Wuest (former 512th Airlift Wing vice commander) as to why there was no heritage room. At this time, the plans for the new building were still in draft phase," said Colonel Young. 

He knew it was time to bring this time-honored tradition to the 512th AW. 

"The idea is to have the walls covered with mementos," said Capt. Amy Tullis 709th Airlift Squadron pilot. "We want to start filling this place with items like coins, objects brought back from missions and anything that represents where we've been and who we are. In the tradition of remembering those who came before us, when someone retires we're going to hang their nametape up on the wall." 

"Some of our retired flyers are donating items that we will hang up," said Captain Fiore. Additional items, like a flat-panel television and dart-board, are scheduled to line the walls of the heritage room 

Overall, the creation of the room is not just a celebration of the 512th AW flying squadrons of today; it is a reminiscence of the past and a place to tend to future flyers, said Captain Fiore. "The canvas is there, and now we have all the time to paint on it."