The Heritage Center was established by retired and current members of the New Jersey Air National Guard.  The Center will have artifacts, photographs, reference materials, a media center and aircraft missile and an F-84F “Thunderstreak” airplane.

New Jersey was the first state to have a jet fighter capable of flying twice the speed of sound and the 150th Air Refueling Squadron, 108th Air Refueling Wing, McGuire Air Force Base, is reportedly the only flying unit in the Air National Guard to have an accident-free history.  

The Heritage Center is located at 3310 Wonnacott Road, McGuire Air Force Base.  The day’s schedule is:
1 p.m.  – Tour of the center.
1:30 p.m. – Building dedication in the memory of Col. Lou Vocino
2 p.m.  – Dedication of the “Joe Fisher Media Center”
2:30 p.m. – Dedication of the F-84 
3 p.m. – Reception
 
Col. Lou Vocino was the Executive Support Officer of the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.  He served in the former 119th Observation Squadron, Newark, in the 108th Air Refueling Wing and the Headquarters, New Jersey Air National Guard.  Tech. Sgt. Joe Fisher was the historian of the 108th Air Refueling Wing.  Members of both the Vocino and Fisher families will attend the ceremony.

Participating in the dedication will be “ace’ and  former Adjutant General of New Jersey, retired Maj. Gen. Francis R. Gerard.  Gerard, who lives in Point Pleasant, N.J., is credited with eight aerial victories in World War II – four in a 12-minute air battle over Leipzig, German.   

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Donald J. Strait, a Verona, N.J. native, and New Jersey’s highest scoring, living “ace”, with 13 ½ aerial victories will also attend the ceremony.  Strait spearheaded “Operation Stairstep” during the 1961 Berlin Crisis.  It was the largest overseas deployment of jet fighters from the United States at that time.  Both Gerard and Strait flew the American-built, P-51 “Mustang” fighter while assigned to the Eighth Air Force in Europe.

For more information about this event, contact their Community Manager, Captain Denise Waggoner, at 609-754-4173, or by email: denise.waggoner@njmcgu.ang.af.mil.