Since 7 May 1945 The United States has maintained air bases in Germany initially beginning as postwar occupation forces. During the Cold War, the number of bases was expanded to support NATO.
Today, only Ramstein Air Base and Spangdahlem Air Base remain as fully active U.S. air bases in Germany, supporting ongoing operations in the Middle East and Balkans.
Famous quotes containing the words united states, united, states, air, force and/or germany:
“I am a freeman, an American, a United States Senator, and a Democrat, in that order.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“Hollywood ... was the place where the United States perpetrated itself as a universal dream and put the dream into mass production.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“I think those Southern writers [William Faulkner, Carson McCullers] have analyzed very carefully the buildup in the South of a special consciousness brought about by the self- condemnation resulting from slavery, the humiliation following the War Between the States and the hope, sometimes expressed timidly, for redemption.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“I wonder whether mankind could not get along without all these names, which keep increasing every day, and hour, and moment; till at the last the very air will be full of them; and even in a great plain, men will be breathing each other’s breath, owing to the vast multitude of words they use, that consume all the air, just as lamp-burners do gas.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“The force of the blow depends on the resistance. It is sometimes better not to struggle against temptation. Either fly or yield at once.”
—F.H. (Francis Herbert)
“It took six weeks of debate in the Senate to get the Arms Embargo Law repealed—and we face other delays during the present session because most of the Members of the Congress are thinking in terms of next Autumn’s election. However, that is one of the prices that we who live in democracies have to pay. It is, however, worth paying, if all of us can avoid the type of government under which the unfortunate population of Germany and Russia must exist.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)