Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam Patch

The long white building with the flag at the bottom of this patch is the USS Arizona Memorial, which sits over the sunken battleship USS Arizona BB-39 in Pearl Harbor. Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam is the Oahu installation formed in 2010 when Naval Station Pearl Harbor and Hickam Air Force Base were merged. The merger came out of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure round, which created twelve joint bases. Navy Region Hawaii is the host command, and Hickam is still headquarters for Pacific Air Forces. Sailors and airmen now work out of one installation on ground that was struck on 7 December 1941.

Hickam Field was built in 1938 and named for Lieutenant Colonel Horace Meek Hickam, an aviation pioneer. On 7 December 1941 the Japanese attack hit Hickam's flight line as well as Battleship Row across the harbor, where USS Arizona was lost with 1,177 of her crew. Today the Hawaii Air National Guard flies the F-22 Raptor from Hickam, and C-17 Globemaster III airlifters work from the same airfield. The runways are shared with Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. On the Navy side, the piers of Pearl Harbor still berth the ships and submarines of the Pacific Fleet.

This is a 4.5 inch round patch with a navy blue band and a white merrowed edge. JOINT BASE runs across the top in white block letters, PEARL HARBOR - HICKAM curves along the bottom, and a white star sits at each side. Inside, a light blue field carries the green outline of Oahu, a tall white tower at the left, a gold fouled anchor for the Navy and the blue and white wings of the Air Force for the airmen. Along the bottom of the scene lies the long white Arizona Memorial, with the flag flying above it. The anchor and the wings sit side by side over the island, and that pairing is what a joint base is.

Few duty stations put a sailor or airman this close to the history of his own service. A tour here means going to work a short drive from the Arizona Memorial and from the Hickam flight line where the Pacific war began for the United States. For Pacific Air Forces, Hickam is the headquarters for air operations across the Indo-Pacific. The 2010 merger put two service cultures behind one gate, under one host command and one set of base services. Whether someone served at Hickam before the merger, at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, or on the joint base since, it is the same ground.

It fits a shadow box with a set of orders to Hawaii and a photo from Ford Island, or the jacket worn to a squadron or ship's reunion. It is also a good gift for someone just back from a tour on Oahu, or for a family that visited the Arizona Memorial together. The iron-on backing goes onto a jacket, backpack or bag. Two services, one base, one island.