Roger William Raines is pictured below in December 1953 with his Basic Training Class at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. He was in the Third Platoon, Battery B-62nd AFA. Br, 6th Armored Division. Roger is in the front row at the far right end. Also pictured is C. Bryce Peper, North High, Class of 1949. Bryce is in the fifth row at the far left end.

In August of 1940, President Roosevelt and British Ambassador Lord Lothian began negotiations to lease territories in Newfoundland and the Caribbean on which to build military bases for defense against German aggression. This resulted in the creation of the Canada-United States Permanent Joint Board on Defense on September 2, 1940, allowing 99-year leases in exchange for 50-over age destroyers. Detailed lease agreements were not signed until March, 1941, even though site selection had begun in March, 1940 and field work started in October, 1940 for the first base near St. Johns, Newfoundland. U.S. troops began arriving on January 15, 1941.
In April, 1941, Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Danish Ambassador Henrik Kauffmann signed the Defense of Greenland Agreement, approved by President Roosevelt on June 7, 1941, in which the United States agreed to take over the security of Greenland. Airfields or weather stations were built at Narsarssuak Airfield (Bluie West One) (BW-1), Angmagssalik (Bluie West Two) (BW-2), Gronnedal Airfield (Bluie West Nine) (BW-9), Sondrestomfjord (Bluie West Eight) (BW-8), and Thule (Bluie West Six) (BW-6).
On August 7, 1941, the heavy cruiser Augusta carrying President Roosevelt arrived at Little Placentia Bay near Argentia, Newfoundland to meet with Sir Winston Churchill who had sailed on the HMS Prince of Wales. The purpose was to discuss strategies and logistics if the United States entered the war. Talks started on August 9 and were completed on August 12. The British Press referred to this as the Atlantic Charter though neither party had officially signed it.
The mission of Ft. Pepperrell, the base at St. Johns was to conduct anti-sub patrols, convoy over-flights of shipping lanes, and patrol for U-boats. The naval station and naval air base at Argentia provided anti-sub patrols and task force escorts. The largest American task force in the Atlantic was based there. Nearby Ft. McAndrew's main function was to defend the naval and air base with infantry, seacoast artillery, anti-motor torpedo boat and anti-aircraft artillery. The base at Stephenville in western Newfoundland had similar missions and the large airfield was a stopping and refueling point for USAF aircraft crossing the Atlantic. The bases in Greenland were also stopping points and the weather stations gave the allies a strategic advantage over the Germans in battle planning and was a decisive factor in D-Day.
With the end of WWII, the importance of the North Atlantic bases diminished considerably, but with the advent of the Korean War and the ensuing cold war era, these bases regained their value for national defense.
These bases had been in two different commands, but in October, 1950, they were organized into a major command designated as Northeast Air Command (NEAC). Its mission was to provide RADAR cover over the northwest Atlantic, fighter interceptor, and to support U.S. Army anti-aircraft defense forces. NEAC's area was Newfoundland, Labrador, Northeastern Canada, and Greenland. The Radar stations were known as the Pinetree Line and later the Dewline. It should be noted that Thule, Greenland is the midpoint on the great circle between Moscow and New York City.
The name NEAC was discontinued in April, 1957, and the bases were divided into other organizations. Base closures started in 1960, and today Thule is the only operational U.S. air base in the area.