[3][4] On 18 March 1942, the Bureau of Yards and Docks (BuDocks) sent out a letter to the Judge Advocate General of the Navy (JAG), Rear Admiral Walter Browne Woodson, for the acquisition of land near Peru, Indiana, with the intention of constructing a Naval Reserve Aviation Base.

The following day, the Shore Station Development Board sent a letter of recommendation to the US Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV), Frank Knox, estimating the cost of the project, including land acquisition, at $7,000,000.

On 21 March 1942, the Chief of Naval Operations, Fleet Admiral Ernest King, concurred with BuDocks and also sent a letter to SECNAV.

Two other firms had been considered; Walter W. Ahlschlager & Associates, Chicago, Illinois, and Phelps & Peck, Michigan City, Indiana.

The training facilities included 25 auxiliary fields, within a 20 mi (32 km) radius, with a combined area of 4,696 acres (1,900 ha).

It could be serviced by the Pennsylvania Railroad, with a station only 1.5 mi (2.4 km) away and construction of a switch track easily possible; also paved highways and bus lines nearby.

[5] In addition to the previously mentioned builds, a combined saw mill and carpenter shop was constructed, and equipped with wood working machinery.

[5] Building 22, the Dispensary, with 109 beds, contained two wards, operating suite, sick officers' quarters, pharmacy, diet kitchen, x-ray rooms, physiotherapy, solarium, showers, and toilets.

The galleries lead to two platforms of wooden boards supported by pipe scaffolding bolted to the laminated arches and to the ceiling, at the deep end of the pool.

These platforms were approximately 25 ft (7.6 m) high with pipe fences surrounding them, they simulated the height of an aircraft carrier and were used for practicing lifeboat drills and abandon ship maneuvers.

Signalling, radio sending and receiving equipment, and switches controlling the electric lighting of the runways were operated from this room.

The city of Peru provided a 33,000 volt transmission line that fed a sub-station at the northeast corner of the base.

Standby emergency electricity was supplied by two 175 kW (235 hp) generators connected to two 12 cylinder gasoline engines.

The building contained electric motor driven pumps, tanks, chlorinators, dry chemical feeders, and filters for purifying and softening the water.

On 1 January 1943, the name was changed to Naval Air Station Peru (NAS Peru), and only three months later on 1 March 1943, the name changed again, this time to Naval Air Station Bunker Hill (NAS Bunker Hill), which it kept for the rest of the war.

[6] After World War II the base area reverted to farming use, with a civilian crew of government caretakers maintaining the military buildings.

Initially operating the F-89 Scorpion interceptor, the mission of the 319th FIS was the air defense of the southern Great Lakes and Chicago-Gary-Central Indiana region.

On 8 December 1964, a B-58 carrying five nuclear weapons, including a 9-megaton thermonuclear bomb, slid off an icy runway and caught fire during a training mission.

After traveling another 10 ft the left main landing gear struck an electrical manhole box which caused it to collapse, rupturing a fuel tank.

[7] The aircraft commander, Leary Johnson, and defensive system operator, Roger Hall, were able to escape with minor injuries.

However, the navigator, Manuel "Rocky" Cervantes, ejected in his escape capsule, which landed 548 ft (167 m) from the bomber; he did not survive.

From the early 1970s, the 305th Air Refueling Wing deployed KC-135 aircraft to Europe, Alaska, Greenland, and the Pacific to support worldwide tanker task forces.

The Air Force Reserve joined the Grissom personnel complement in the early 1970s with the activation of the 434th Special Operations Wing (434 SOW) and their Cessna A-37 Dragonfly aircraft to the base on 15 January 1971.

The Air Force also retired the Boeing EC-135G/L radio relay aircraft as part of the demise of the Post Attack Command and Control System.

In 2008, Grissom Air Reserve Base entered into a joint-use agreement and opened its runway to civilian operations.

Miami County Aviation manages the day-to-day civil operations at Grissom Air Reserve Base.

Until the retirement of the Space Shuttle on 21 July 2011, Grissom was also listed as one of the emergency landing sites due to its 12,500-foot runway.

[12][13] Grissom claims an economic impact of over $130 million per year, and is involved in community activities, like the Marine Corps Reserve's annual "Toys for Tots".

Grissom Air Reserve Base is located at 40°40′15″N 86°09′17″W / 40.670699°N 86.154670°W / 40.670699; -86.154670,[19] about 12 miles (19 km) north of Kokomo in Cass and Miami counties in Indiana.

[18] The base is listed by the United States Census Bureau as the "Grissom AFB" census-designated place (CDP), with an area of 5.0 square miles (12.9 km2), all land.