Army vet returns 'home'

NewsNM - Swickard: Partly personal, my father served at the base during the time this man served. In fact, I was born at Holloman in 1950. From the Alamogordo Daily News - HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE - Holloman defenders have been patrolling the base's grounds for almost 70 years, and in the process they have protected the various weapon systems and people that have called the base home. One of the earliest defenders, former U.S. Army Pvt. David Kelley, recently visited where he had called home more than 62 years ago. "I started at Kelly Air Force Base, Texas, and was transferred to Rome, N.Y., from September 1947 to February 1948, before coming to Alamogordo," Kelley said. "This was my first time to go inside the base since I left. I drove by in 1962 with my family and that was the last time I was by here." Kelley came back to the base to see the area he served from February 1948 to December 1949, he said. Seeing the inside of the base for the first time in 62 years, Kelley was astonished at what he saw. "I see nothing that even resembles what was here when I was," he said. "I can't see anything that even resembles the old base - not even the guard gate. At the time, instead of a welcome center you would just come up to the guard gate and say, 'I want to see so and so,' the guard would pick up the phone and call who you wanted to see and they would come to the front gate to get you. If whoever the person was there to see said no, you would have to make a U-turn and exit the base." Read more