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On Saturday, September 20th, 1997, the SACMARC
returned the personal amateur radio call sign of former CINCSAC General Curtis
E. LeMay, K0GRL, to the air from the USAF Global HF Communications
Network Station at Elkhorn, Nebraska, on the occasion of the 5oth
Anniversary of the United States Air force.
Amateur Radio Station KØGRL
KØGRL is the "call sign," of one of the station licenses
of the Strategic Air Command Memorial
Amateur Radio Club (SACMARC). The other one is
KØAIR.
Originally assigned by the
Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) sometime during the Cold War, KØGRL
was the personal amateur radio call sign of
General
Curtis E. LeMay when he was the CINCSAC and assigned to Offutt
Air Force Base. (Offutt, near Omaha Nebraska, was the Headquarters
base for the former Strategic Air Command or SAC,
1946-1992, now reorganized into a unified command called
(USSTRATCOM)
and was used by him until the late 1950's. The General received K4RFA
when he went to Washington, D.C., to be the USAF Vice Chief of Staff
(later Chief of Staff), and retired in California with W6EZV. The
original Nebraska call sign, KØGRL, had long since lapsed and was unassignable under FCC rules for several decades. Recent changes in FCC
rules, including the adoption of a
Vanity
Call sign Program, offered the opportunity for SAC veterans, and
other members of the local amateur radio community, to recover that call sign
in memory of SAC and military communications history. With the gracious
consent of the LeMay family, including the General's daughter, Mrs. Jane
LeMay Lodge, KØGRL was taken down from history's attic, dusted off, and
returned to active use in May of 1997.
KØGRL is a station in the amateur radio service. This is a special
world-wide communications service, defined by international treaty,
devoted to technical experimentation, public-service, and promoting
international goodwill. In its reincarnated form, KØGRL is a living
exhibit of SAC and USAF military communications history, as well as
modern amateur radio practice.
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