Naval Support Activity Souda Bay Crete Greece Patch

The Greek across the top of this patch, OMADA SOUDAS, means Team Souda, and that is how the Americans and Greeks who share the airfield on Crete's Akrotiri Peninsula have always worked. Naval Support Activity Souda Bay sits entirely inside the Hellenic Air Force base that is home to the 115th Combat Wing, and its runway is shared with Chania International Airport. The base looks over one of the best natural harbors in the Mediterranean. From there it supports U.S., allied and partner forces across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Sailors who did a tour there remember the bay and the mountains standing over it.

The Navy's story at Souda Bay starts with USS Tallahatchie County (AVB-2), the lone fleet unit working there from 1962 to 1969. U.S. Naval Detachment Souda Bay was commissioned on May 28, 1969 with 16 personnel, and on October 1, 1980 it became U.S. Naval Support Activity Souda Bay. In December 1990 the mission grew to support Air Force and Navy reconnaissance flights, and a VQ-2 detachment has been based there. On October 21, 1999, a battery of the 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade fired a Patriot missile from Souda Bay, the first Patriot fired in Europe.

The patch is a blue shield with a merrowed edge, US NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY arched across the top in gold and SOUDA BAY CRETE along the bottom. Inside a white-outlined inner shield, the American and Greek flags hang side by side on one gold frame. Two sets of white Greek columns stand below them, a white jet trails a long contrail across the field, and a short Greek key band sits near the base. The white banner at the top carries ΟΜΑΔΑ ΣΟΥΔΑΣ in black Greek capitals. Two flags on one frame says more about this base than any paragraph could.

Souda Bay is a small command with a big footprint, about a thousand people counting active duty, civilians, Greek employees, contractors and families. For more than half a century it has supported ships in port, reconnaissance flights and carrier-sized ships at anchor in the inner bay on liberty visits. The people who served there worked inside a host nation's air base and learned to do the job alongside Greek counterparts every day. Across the bay, ships berth at the Marathi NATO Pier Complex. Team Souda, stitched in Greek on this patch, is how the base runs.

Put it in a shadow box with your Sixth Fleet and VQ-2 patches and a photo of the bay from the Akrotiri road, or sew it on a jacket for the next reunion. It is also a good gift for a shipmate or family member who spent a tour on Crete. The iron-on backing holds, and a few stitches around the merrowed edge make it permanent. Kalo taxidi.