THE EVACUATION OF WHEELUS

In the course of just one day, the nation of Libya was converted from a monarchy led state to a radical Arab regime, led by Muammar Gaddafi and his fellow officers¹.. After just 17 days in power, the new regime agreed that Libya would tolerate the United States presence at Wheelus Air Base, until the previously agreed closure date of December 1971. However, on the 31st October 1969, after being in power for just 8 weeks, the regime rescinded their agreement and ordered the U.S to evacuate Wheelus as soon as possible with Gaddafi threatening to go to war with what he called the ‘Colonial States’ if they did not withdraw from Libya³.

On the 17th December, the U.S government, agreed to withdraw all staff, crew and equipment from Wheelus by the 30th June 1970, eighteen months ahead of the original agreement⁴. The closure was to be led in part by Col. Daniel “Chappie” James Jr, who had been present at the base since August 1969, leading the 7272nd Fighter Training Wing. James played a prominent role in the evacuation and negotiations, which were not always easy, due to the regime seeking to take ownership of vehicles and equipment, in exchange for their cooperation with the closure⁵. One particular incident occurred when Gadaffi and some of his men were recklessly driving their side tracks through the base housing quarters, in an attempt to frighten and intimidate residents. Col James approached the men and came face to face with Gaddafi. James said that Gaddafi had a firearm in a holster attached to his leg and as they talked Gaddafi moved his hand onto the grip of his gun. James later recalling the incident said, “I had my .45 in my belt. I told him to move his hand away. If he had pulled that gun, he never would have cleared his holster.” Gaddafi removed his hand from the grip and the encounter ended in a peaceful manner⁶.

On June 11th 1970, Wheelus Air Base finally closed after a successful evacuation of 4000 personnel and equipment worth 21 million dollars. A small ceremony took place with the Stars and Stripes being replaced with the Libyan flag. The final USAF aircraft to depart Wheelus Air Base was a C-130, which left Wheelus at 8:41 a.m⁷.