History

“Man of the Decade” & Commander of the 354th at Myrtle Beach by Melissa LaScaleia Hackler Street in the Market Common links Farrow Parkway to Johnson Avenue, and borders Valor Memorial Garden. It is named after General James Franklin Hackler, Jr. James Hackler was born in Marion, Virginia in 1920. As a child, he was passionate about golf and dreamed of being a professional pilot. He determined his best recourse to learn how to fly and have a long-term career as a pilot was to join the U.S. military.  He graduated from New Hanover High School in Wilmington, NC in 1937, and spent a year at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, before attending West Point Academy. He graduated in 1943, and the same year, married his sweetheart, Josephine Love Bridger, also from North Carolina. James Hackler began his flying career in England in 1943. It was World War II, and he was a wingman in a P-47 fighter group. He completed a 100-mission tour and was promoted to major before volunteering for a second tour. By the end of the war, he completed 119 missions and received many awards including the Silver Star; Legion of Merit; Distinguished Flying Cross; Air medals; French Croix de Guerre; and Army and Air Force Commendation medals. His flying career continued as a squadron commander in P-51s and F-86s; as a group commander in F-86s and F-100s; and as commander of the 36th Wing in Germany, flying F-105s and F-4s.  Hackler was promoted to brigadier general and assigned to headquarters as deputy director of operations for the United States Air Force, Europe. In September 1956, he returned to the United States and was assigned to the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, as commander of the 354th Fighter Day Group. He delivered the first F-100 to the base in October 1956. The following year, he was appointed director of operations for the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing. In this position, Hackler was instrumental in developing a worldwide deployment capability as part of Tactical Air Command’s Composite Air Strike Force. James Hackler also served three assignments at the Pentagon: first in personnel, later in tactical aircraft and weapons requirements, then in research and development in the office of the Secretary of Defense. During his last tour, he served in the public information office of the Secretary of the Air Force, was promoted to major general, and assigned as director of Air Force personnel policy and planning. In 1968, Hackler’s business partner in Myrtle Beach, SC, died unexpectedly. Hackler retired from the military after 26 years of service, and moved to Myrtle Beach to manage his business investments. Over time, he became involved with four motel/hotel properties, seven golf courses, and three restaurants. In Myrtle Beach, Hackler also served on the board of directors of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce; as national director of the Air Force Association; as vice president of the United Way; on the Congressional Medal of Honor society convention; as club president and district governor of Rotary International; chairman of the county district, Boy Scouts of America; lay reader in the Methodist Church; on the board of trustees for Spartanburg Methodist College, and for the Falcon Foundation, Air Force Academy; as well as the board of visitors for the School of Business Administration, Coastal Carolina University. In recognition of his contributions, Hackler was named South Carolina “Man of the Decade” by the Air Force Association and “Distinguished Citizen of the Year” in 1998 by the Pee Dee Area Council. He and his wife had two sons— both of whom served with the Air Force during the Vietnam War, and both of whom became businessmen in Myrtle Beach afterwards. James Hackler died on November 22, 2007, and is interred in Ocean Woods National Cemetery, Myrtle Beach, SC. To read more of our history features click here. 

This story is part 5 of a 7-part series which chronicles the redevelopment of the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base and its evolution into the Market Common from the perspective of retired Air Force Colonel Buddy Styers, executive director of the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base Redevelopment Authority. Our history continues where we left off with Part 4, in the January 2017 issue.  The Redevelopment Years of The Market Common by Melissa LaScaleia “After we started building the Market Common,” Buddy says, “we realized, and thankfully the city also realized, that this building project was a great opportunity to add amenities that didn’t exist anywhere else in Myrtle Beach. Today, when you drive by the lake, you can see mothers and fathers walking their children, people sitting in bench swings— it’s the kind of scene we always envisioned for the Market Common. Luckily, the city shared our vision and was very interested in making that possible.” The city built the ball field complex, the roller skating rink, and the soccer fields— and they renovated Crabtree Gym— all of which have been instrumental in the growth of the Market Common by contributing to its wonderful, homey vibe. Additionally, Horry Georgetown Technical College played a major role in the redevelopment process. Through federal law, and with the approval and support of the Redevelopment Authority, the college received property in the Market Common at no cost. Horry Georgetown Technical College moved their three biggest programs from the Conway campus to the Market Common: medical/nursing, dentistry, and culinary arts. That freed up a lot of space on their landlocked Conway campus for other programs and was a win win for both college and community. The Redevelopment Authority helped finance many of the school’s projects in the Market Common. Probably the most important was the expansion of the nursing program. “Back then,” Buddy reminisces, “we had a shortage of nurses in Myrtle Beach. And the college could only take forty people per year who wanted to go to nursing school. They had a waiting list of 300 people.” Together, the college and the Redevelopment Authority converted what was the base hospital into the Robert E. Speir Building, where the nursing program was moved. The building was named after a local doctor; and the Speir family, along with the Redevelopment Authority and many of the local medical community, made generous financial contributions to help with its construction and implementation. With the completion of the building, the program was greatly expanded and enhanced by the increased number of new students they could accept each year. The Redevelopment Authority also helped finance an annex to the Speir Building to house the dental program classrooms and community dental clinic. Traditionally, schools contribute an energy of freshness, youthful vitality, learning, and enthusiasm. The expansion of the Technical College’s programs in the Market Common was an asset to the community by its presence alone; plus, new graduates boost the economy because they are a workforce providing services that benefit everyone. “If the city and Horry Georgetown Tech hadn’t gotten so involved in this process, our development probably would have been slower,” Buddy says. “They added the amenities that make people want to be a part of this place— that gives them a reason to come. In the end, they’ve been real assets to the development and creation of this urban village.” “The Redevelopment Authority was a development-finance partner for the city, helping to make these projects happen,” he continues. “We put money into redoing the gymnasium, Crabtree Gym, the recreation center, and ball fields. The city paid much of their share with tax increment financing (TIF).” The legality of tax increment financing requires applicants to disclose any and all projects that they might finance with those tax increments before applying for it. You have to be transparent about what you want to do with the money, and have your long-term vision in place. The TIF plan passed, and over a ten-year period the bonds were paid off; the other projects listed in the plan have been implemented. Those projects were the fire station and the ball field complex, and the development of the Market Common’s public infrastructure including parking garages, streets, sidewalks, and recreation areas. Tax increment financing places a valuation on personal property. As the value of property increases, the taxes increase on personal property, and the increase pays for the infrastructure that was already put in place. “As we started building single family homes and saw other economic improvements, that gave the city the opportunity to pay off the bonds that they had purchased to pay for the public infrastructure for the Market Common,” Buddy says. “Using a TIF allowed for the Market Common to be developed, as the city didn’t have any funds in their overall budget for the area’s projects. “If not for the TIF,” he adds, “it would have been difficult for Myrtle Beach to find tax infrastructure for any of this to happen.” Click here to read the next article in the series on “The Redevelopment Years of The Market Common.”

WWII Fighter Pilot Ace and Myrtle Beach Base Commander by Melissa LaScaleia Lewis Street in the Market Common links the well-known DeVille Street— with its offerings of electric bike rides, sushi, and yoga— to Johnson Avenue, which leads out to Farrow Parkway. The street is named after Colonel Warren R. Lewis, who was born on Christmas Eve in 1919, in Superior, Iowa. Lewis was at school at Estherville Junior College when World War II broke out in Europe, in 1939.  He abandoned his studies to join the Canadian Royal Air Force, a segue to enlisting with the United States Air Force.  He transferred to the United States Air Force in 1941, and was assigned to the 8th Fighter Group; this placement marked the start of his long and illustrious career with the U.S. military. Lewis was stationed at Milne Bay, New Guinea as a P-38 fighter pilot in the latter years of the war. In 1943 he was reassigned to the 431st Fighter Squadron, 475th Fighter Group, as a first lieutenant. He was subsequently reassigned to the 433rd and promoted to captain. He also saw combat in Italy with the 82nd and 31st Fighter Groups where he flew P-51s in addition to P-38s. He became a fighter pilot “ace” after he shot down a Zeke, one of Japan’s premier fighter aircraft, in 1944. It was recorded that throughout his military career, he shot down seven aircraft in all, with more logged as ‘probably shot down’ or ‘damaged.’  He was promoted to major in 1944, and shortly thereafter, squadron commander of the 433rd. In 1944, he was rotated back to the states for a break; he returned to service in 1945. Lewis was promoted to colonel in 1959. He served a combat tour during the Vietnam War where he was stationed at Tuy Hoa Air Base, Vietnam. He also commanded the 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano Air Base, in Italy. Lewis was given the post of base commander of the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing at our very own Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in the 1960s. In September of 1971, he retired from the Air Force. Lewis logged a total of 1,171 combat flying hours; flew 591 missions; and was awarded 27 Air Medals: 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, and two Legion of Merit medals with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster. Colonel Warren R. Lewis was said to have made a positive impact on others both in his military and civilian life. He was noted as a family man with a kind heart, who loved golf and fishing. Colonel Warren R. Lewis died on January 13, 2006 and is buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, in San Antonio, Texas. To read more of our history features click here. 

This story is part 4 of a 7-part series which chronicles the redevelopment of the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base and its evolution into the Market Common from the perspective of retired Air Force Colonel Buddy Styers, executive director of the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base Redevelopment Authority. Our history continues where we left off with Part 3, in the December 2016 issue.  The Redevelopment Years of The Market Common by Melissa LaScaleia By late 2005, most of the work happening in the Market Common consisted of demolition of what Buddy had already put in the ground that was necessary to change.  Dan McCaffery and Buddy had waded through the city planning process and negotiated the necessary compromises so they could move forward with Dan’s urban village design. The major compromise between Dan and the city had to do with Howard Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares in the Market Common. It had to be changed to accommodate the Barnes & Noble that was going to be built at the end. The rest of the Market Common itself, the 360,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, was laid out to fit into and around most of what had already been installed. “Of course building something that big takes a long time,” Buddy says. Plant Construction, Dan McCaffery’s company, spent practically all of 2006 and 2007 constructing Howard Avenue and the four crossroads that intersect it, as well as the backside of the Market Common and DeVille Street. Vertical construction of the buildings began sometime in late 2006— along with supporting public infrastructure like parking lots and garages, which were built around the construction of the Market Common itself. At this time, there was a city ordinance, which mandated that single-family homes in the Market Common were not allowed— only multi-family units were. So Dan started building live-work units that had 700 square feet on the bottom floor, and an apartment for living above. At the same time that construction was happening, Dan was looking for prospective tenants— retailers, restaurants, and grocery stores— to be ready to move in. “He had a great relationship with many of those tenants from his other developments,” Buddy says. “Once the retailers knew he was behind the Market Common project, they were interested in being a part of it.” But in 2007, when the economic crash occurred and the residential market hit bottom, people stopped buying residences. “What that taught us,” Buddy says, “was that you couldn’t support the Market Common with multi-family homes, because a lot of people don’t want to live in a townhouse with 6 or 7 other people in the same dwelling. The live-work units looked like a great idea at the beginning; the people who bought them tended to have their business on the bottom and lived on the top. Some leased the apartment or retail space out. But in the end, they just weren’t marketable. Some sold successfully, but not all of them did.” The secret of the Market Common’s success lies in its residents— the people who live in and nearby and partake in the work/live/play offerings available, as they support the retailers and restaurants in the area. When people stopped buying homes, it slowed the development and growth of the Market Common, and compromised the area’s economic stability. “Because of the recession, we were able to convince the city to amend the ordinance,” Buddy says. “By 2009-2010, we were allowed to start construction of single family homes, and that has been a wonderful thing, because people bought those. It provided a population that walks or takes their golf carts to get around, and uses the services and establishments here. It was a boon for the Market Common.” Click here to read the next article in the series on “The Redevelopment Years of The Market Common.”

Pilot Extraordinaire, MBAF Base’s Longest Serving Commander by Melissa LaScaleia Colonel Joseph R. Nevers had an illustrious military career with the United States Air Force that spanned thirty-five years. He was a renowned fighter pilot in the Vietnam War and flew more than 7,700 military hours in F-86, F-100, and F-104 aircraft. In the 1950s, the F-100 Super Sabre replaced the F-86 in the Air Force lineup of planes with its superior design. The F-100 distinguished itself by being the first plane in the Air Force to exceed the speed of sound in level flight. The F-104, a further enhancement in the F series of planes, has been called a missile with wings by some pilots, due to its speed and ability to climb quickly. Nevers logged 4,885 flying hours in the F-104— a number which was exceeded by only one other pilot in the United States Air Force. Nevers flew F-104 combat missions during the Vietnam War. Later in the war, he served the United States further by acting as a Deputy Base Commander of a special operations wing operating from a base in Thailand. Nevers held other key assignments during his military career. He was the director of F-104 operations at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona; Deputy Base Commander at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida; and Commander of the 354th Combat Support Group at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base during the ’70s. In effect, he was the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing’s Base Commander for the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base. He served for more than seven years, becoming our base’s longest serving commander. Jim Parker, when he was stationed at the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in 1978, remembers meeting Colonel Nevers and what it was like to be stationed under his supervision: “He was a well-liked base commander. He had a great reputation amongst the military as well as civilian employees and the community at large. I was 18 when I met him. I remember he made an impression on me with his ability to discern a person’s character. He was one of the highest authority figures I had ever met, and he was a role model for me as a community leader and an authority figure. He was well liked, and he was a gentleman and a scholar.” Colonel Nevers served as base commander the entire time Jim was stationed here. Colonel Joseph R. Nevers medals include: the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, and five Air Medals. He currently lives in Florida. Click here to read more history. 

This story is part 3 of a 7-part series which chronicles the redevelopment of the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base and its evolution into the Market Common from the perspective of retired Air Force Colonel Buddy Styers, executive director of the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base Redevelopment Authority. This article continues where we left off with Part 2, from the November 2016 issue.  The Redevelopment Years of The Market Common by Melissa LaScaleia By the time the parcel of land that was to become the Market Common had been sold to Dan McCaffery, the Redevelopment Authority had already installed telephone; electricity; a regional stormwater management system; roads; sidewalks; underground utilities; water; sewer; and computer lines according to a specific design. The design differed however, from Dan’s vision for the urban village. Dan recognized that in order to bring the development of the Market Common to fruition— and not have to dig up everything the Authority had put in place and put it back again in a slightly different location— he would have to amend his plan. Dan had to present his modified plan to the Community Appearance Board (a public body appointed by the city council that decides what new buildings and signage will look like), the City Planning Committee, and ultimately the city council, for approval. With the help of Buddy, Dan navigated the back and forth that such a large-scale project necessitates. “Dan and I were not only trying to get the planning done so we could get construction done,” Buddy says, “we were also working closely with the city to work our way through their administrative process, in order to put in place the additional public infrastructure to support the Market Common’s development.” But Buddy’s position, appointed as it was by the city to help the city develop this land, still did not entitle them to any expedited privileges. “We were treated no differently by the city than any other developer,” he says. “We had to go through the same process, meet all the requirements, cooperate with Santee Cooper for all the electricity, Horry Telephone for all the communications. Everything had to be in place before we started construction.” The city was cooperative, but it still took them one year. Once the city council passed an ordinance, which approved the urban village construction, they could begin in earnest. At this point, Buddy’s work with the redevelopment authority was 50% complete; after the sale of the Market Common land, there was only a small amount of property left to redevelop. In 2005, his plans approved, Dan offered Buddy the position of senior project manager for the development of the Market Common. Buddy and his chairman met with the South Carolina Ethics Commission to determine if there was a conflict of interest in his accepting. The Ethics Commission saw no conflict, so Buddy took the position to help grow the former Air Force base into something new. Their next step was to build parking garages, additional sidewalks and more underground utilities. The process to fund the additional public infrastructure was completed through a law called tax increment financing. In tax increment financing, a base tax-value is determined for the property, let’s say that is zero dollars. If, by putting in public infrastructure, the value then becomes 100,000 dollars, the taxes paid from that new valuation of the property will pay retroactively for the infrastructure that was put in place. Each time the tax value increment increases, there are more funds available to pay for more projects. There was one other process by which funds were obtained to pay for the development of the Market Common: the Municipal Improvement District Act. “We wanted to install the decorative street lamps you see around the Market Common,” he tells me, “but the city wanted to put in a standard light.” The difference in the cost was $8. The city paid for the street lamps up to the amount of their standard-issue lights, and Buddy used the Municipal Improvement District Act to pay the difference. With this law, land owners, based on the amount of land that they own, are assessed a cost on an annual basis that pays for the difference in the cost of the decorative lights. “To create the ambience that we wanted in the Market Common, we knew that we had to have something nicer than the aluminum lights the city provided,” Buddy says. Click here to read the successive article, Part 4 in the series, “The Redevelopment Years of the Market Common.” 

This story is part 1 of a 7-part series which chronicles the redevelopment of the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base and its evolution into the Market Common from the perspective of retired Air Force Colonel Buddy Styers, executive director of the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base Redevelopment Authority. For the background on the initial stages of the redevelopment of the Market Common, see our September 2016 feature, “Remembering The Market Common’s Past, An Interview With Colonel Buddy Styers.” The Redevelopment Years of The Market Common by Melissa LaScaleia The redevelopment of the Air Force base was a step by step process, and often there were many steps happening concurrently that were connected to one another. One of the first things the Redevelopment Authority tackled was to set in place public infrastructure— building roads throughout the 1800 acres of old Air Force base property. It was a project that took two years to complete. “To make a community out of it,” says Buddy Styers, executive director of the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base Redevelopment Authority, “we needed lots of streets. The Air Force only made streets for utilitarian purposes. We needed something else.” But first, they had to get rid of buildings that were in the way. “It seemed,” he says, “that everywhere we needed a building, there wasn’t one, and everywhere that we wanted to put a road, there was one. And the buildings that were there, weren’t really usable.” Where the big lake currently is, there were 10 three-story dormitories which, in the redevelopment plan, could not be used and needed to be demolished.  The Authority put a regional storm water retention system (comprised of five small lakes and one 21-acre big one) in its place to protect the area from flooding after a hurricane. Farrow Parkway, which is next to the big lake, was built at the same time. Buddy’s vision for Farrow Parkway was to create a nice, meandering neighborhood drive that would connect the front gate and back gate of the old Air Force base. “We knew it would contribute to the positive redevelopment of the area,” he says. They wanted to name it after Lieutenant William Farrow because of his South Carolina birth roots and connection to the famous Doolittle Raiders of WWII. Buddy wanted to make sure that the past was not forgotten, so every street here is named after a person who was involved in the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in some way. There are only two exceptions— the streets Styers and Iris. “Using the names of people from the Air Force was part of our interest in retaining our history of the base,” says Buddy. By state law, the City of Myrtle Beach Planning Department has the authority and responsibility of naming streets. Buddy proposed names to the planning department, and they were in charge of approving them or not. Buddy got a listing of the officers, enlisted personnel, and civilians who worked on the base, and had to consider in his recommendations who was alive and who might not be. Unbeknownst to him, the developer of the Market Common proposed Buddy’s name, Styers, be a street; unbeknownst to the developer, Buddy proposed that the developer’s wife’s name, Iris, be one. The department approved both, and with the erection of the street posts, both were surprised to see themselves commemorated.  “I always wanted to be stationed at the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base,” Buddy says with a smile. “I guess I just came along late.” Click here to read Part 2 in the series, “The Redevelopment Years of the Market Common.” 

The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II by Melissa LaScaleia Long before small, colorful helicopters transported tourists over the coastline for sweeping views of our sandy beaches, or commercial planes whisked visitors to and from Myrtle Beach, a very different sort of aircraft dominated the skies in this area— the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II. The A-10 Thunderbolt II is a single seat, straight-wing jet aircraft that was developed in the ’70s by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force for use in combat situations. It was used at the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base from 1977 until the base’s final closure in 1993. The jet aircraft is named after the P47 Thunderbolt from WWII, and is nicknamed the “Warthog” because it is large, lumbering, and relatively unattractive. The aircraft had staying power, however, because of its many other virtues. Its low-maintenance mechanical needs means it can be serviced and operated from bare-bones bases near battle scenes. Many of its parts are interchangeable left and right, including the engines and main landing gear. The Warthog is primarily used to support ground troops at close quarters. And because it is protected by titanium armor, it can withstand direct hits from armor-piercing and high explosive projectiles, remain intact, and bring the pilot to safe landing.  Since its inception, the A-10 has gone through a series of updates and evolutions. It costs $18.8 million dollars, and can reach speeds of 450 nautical miles per hour. The A-10 has been described as a giant flying gun with wings. It has a canon that is over 19 feet long; shoots bullets the size of beer bottles; and the gun and ammunition together weigh over 4,000 lb. The bullets travel speeds of 2,200 mph and destroyed many tanks in the Gulf War. Its short takeoff and landing capability makes it an asset in front-line operations. In the 90s, the Air Force wanted to phase out the A-10 Thunderbolt in favor of F-15 and F-16 fighter jets. The proposal contributed to the decision to close the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base. But the Army wanted the A-10 to continue flying. The two branches of military fought over whether the A-10 deserved the military’s financial resources or not. The decision to keep the A-10 as part of the military came after the Air Force’s final decision to close the Myrtle Beach base. Today, you can see this relic from Myrtle Beach’s past at Warbird Park. The park is located just off of Farrow Parkway, in the Market Common.

An Interview With Colonel Buddy Styers by Melissa LaScaleia I never knew that the Market Common had its own small airport for use by private planes until the day I met Colonel Buddy Styers. It was the first of many unknown things about the Market Common that I would discover that day. I arrived for our meeting at his office at the Myrtle Beach Aviation Services just off of Howard Avenue. Once I was comfortably ensconced in an armchair, laptop at the ready, he began my history lesson of how the Market Common came into being. Stories in general interest me, but what I found especially fascinating about this history lesson, was that the man before me had not only lived it, he was also directly responsible for creating this particular chapter in time. So we begin. Once upon a time, the Market Common was just a twinkle in the heavens as it hadn’t yet been conceptualized. In its place was an Air Force Base. The base was created in 1940, when the city donated its municipal airport to the American cause, to be used as a military base during World War II. After the war, the base was shut down, but reopened in 1954 at the onset of the Cold War. The Air Force Base encompassed approximately 3800 acres. At one time, the entire city limits of Myrtle Beach weren’t a great deal larger than that. As a federal installation, it was like an island unto itself, completely self-sufficient. There were only two gates to get in and out: the front and the back— by Highway 17 and Highway 17 Bypass respectively. To this day, many locals who remember the days of the Air Force base still give directions mentioning the front gate and the back gate— confusing visitors and recent transplants unfamiliar with the history and former landmarks. “Even back then, Myrtle Beach was a great place to live,” Buddy says, “and it was a plum assignment to be stationed here. The people who lived on the base, from 1954 until it closed permanently in 1993, were an integral part of Myrtle Beach; they went to great lengths to infuse themselves into community life.” As the Cold War drew to an end, the Air Force deemed the base unnecessary, and because of the tremendous cost to operate a base for no reason, it was announced for permanent closure in 1989. At that point, the Air Force started working with the local community, county, city, and state, to decide what was to become of this huge piece of property in the middle of the community. According to South Carolina law, when a base closes, the primary responsibility of the military is to provide jobs for those people who would be displaced, and to transition the property to pay its fair share of being a part of the community so that the rest of the community doesn’t have to pay for it. The taxes that people pay, business license fees, electricity, water, sewer— those communal necessities were self-contained on the Air Force base. So when it closed, the question arose: how was this property going to be a part of the community just like any other neighborhood? This is where Buddy comes in. He is the executive director of the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base Redevelopment Authority, the agency that was established post-base closure to repurpose and redevelop the land. He works for a 9-member board that was appointed by the city of Myrtle Beach, and the board has total autonomy over what they do; it is not a state budgeted entity. Buddy grew up visiting Myrtle Beach, and in 1954, his father bought a hotel here and moved his family to the beach. He graduated from Erskine College in SC, in 1964. It was during Vietnam, and Buddy had the highest draft status, meaning he would be first to be called into service: but he wasn’t. “Every job interview I went to, their first question was, ‘What’s your draft status?’ and when I told them, they’d tell me to come back after the war,” he says. “I was sick of waiting to be drafted, and couldn’t get a job because of my draft status, so I joined the Air Force on July 5, 1966.” He retired 26 years later in 1992 as a full colonel, then came back to the beach to live, having moved twelve times over the course of his military career. In 1995, he came across an advertisement for the Redevelopment Authority position in the newspaper. “I have a bachelors degree in business and a masters in public relations,” Buddy says. “And having been a manager of two bases in the Air Force, I thought I was qualified. But I had no idea what I was getting into.” To start with, there was no redevelopment plan. The Air Force paid for one for the city before the board was instituted. It was comprised of an urban village, recreation facilities, an airport, and a golf course. Both the city government and citizens liked it and wanted to see it come to fruition. But since the Redevelopment Authority was an independent non-government organization, they could not simply use it. Buddy had two choices, to try to find funds to create their own, which would be very costly, or convince the board to adopt the city’s plan. He opted for the latter route, and convinced the city as well, to cooperate and help him. When the base closed, many people, nervous about change, felt it was a negative and unfortunate occurrence for the community. But when Buddy arrived to redevelop the land, he saw an opportunity: that the redeveloped area would one day contribute so much to the community and be so completely transformed in a positive way, that it would be unrecognizable from what it once was. But he didn’t want people to ever forget its roots. “I wanted to stay connected to our history,” he says. … Read more

WWII Hero, 1st Commander of the MBAF Base by Melissa LaScaleia The picturesque neighborhood of Emmens Preserve straddles either side of Coventry Boulevard in the Market Common. It was named after the very first commander of the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base. Colonel Robert Emmens was born in Medford, Oregon on June, 22 1914. After schooling in his home state, he joined the United States Air Force, and became a pilot in 1938. He was assigned to the 17th Bomb Squadron. Emmens was co-pilot for a B-25 aircraft on the Doolittle Raid, the famous counter-attack by the United States against Japan, for that country’s bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II. On April 18, 1942, Emmens’ plane successfully hit target in Japan, but made an emergency landing in a field in Russia, as the plane was consuming fuel much too quickly. The detour prevented him from reaching his final destination in China. He and his crew were found by the Soviets, who despite not being at war with Japan, held them captive during those tense times. For 13 months they subsisted on the same diet as the rest of the Soviet people, black bread and cabbage, before they hatched an escape plan. They were being held in Ashkhabad, near the Persian border. They were thousands of miles from Vladivostok, where they had first landed, when they found a Soviet officer who was sympathetic to their plight. The man introduced them to an Afghan smuggler who supplied the officers with better food and other black market items. They paid the smuggler $250 (won in a poker game the night before the mission) to lead them to a British embassy in Iran. With the help of British diplomats in Mashhad, they made their way to India and got a flight to the United States. The B-25 aircraft that they flew into Russian territory was kept by the Soviets; it was scrapped later— in the 1950s. After the war, Emmens served in Europe and Japan on intelligence assignments. He was promoted to colonel. And in June 1955, he was assigned to supervise the construction efforts at the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, which was newly being built. He later served as the commander of the 342nd Fighter-Day Wing, the first host unit at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, and later as vice-commander of the 354th Fighter-Day Wing, which replaced the 342nd as the base’s permanent host unit. Colonel Emmens’ decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross; Chinese Army, Navy, Air Corps Medal Class A, 1st Grade; and the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure. After his retirement, Robert Emmens returned to his hometown in Oregon, and worked in the investment and real estate businesses. To read more of our history features click here. 

by Melissa LaScaleia Howard Avenue in the Market Common is named after a notable member of the United States Air Force. Born to American parents in Canton, China on April 13, 1913, James Howell Howard moved with his family to St. Louis, Missouri in 1927. He graduated from Pomona College in Claremont, California in 1937, intending to pursue a career in medicine. But the thrills of a military life during World War II called to him, and he became a P-40 fighter pilot with the famous American Volunteer Group— the Flying Tigers, in Burma, instead. He flew 56 missions and was credited with shooting down six Japanese airplanes. Following that group’s disbandment, James returned to the U.S., joined the Air Force, and in 1943, was promoted to major and given command of the 356th Fighter Squadron in the United Kingdom. On January 11, 1944, James made the choice that would earn him a promotion to lieutenant colonel, and the United States military’s highest decoration— the Medal of Honor. He is the only fighter pilot in the European Theater of Operations in World War II to receive this distinction. He single-handedly flew his P-51 Mustang into some thirty Luftwaffe fighters that were attacking a formation of American B-17 Flying Fortress bombers over Oschersleben, Germany. For more than a half-hour, James defended the bombers of the 401st Bomb Group against the swarm of Luftwaffe fighters, attacking the enemy airplanes and shooting down six. At a press conference the following week, James described the attack to reporters, including the BBC, the Associated Press, CBS reporter Walter Cronkite, and Andy Rooney, then a reporter for Stars and Stripes. The story was a media sensation, prompting articles such as “Mustang Whip” in The Saturday Evening Post, “Fighting at 425 Miles Per Hour” in Popular Science, and “One Man Air Force” in True, The Man’s Magazine. The New York Times reported on January 19, 1944, that after James’ plane ran out of ammunition, he continued to dive on enemy airplanes. “An attack by a single fighter on four or five times his own number wasn’t uncommon,” wrote a fellow World War II fighter pilot in his postwar memoirs of James’ performance. “But a deliberate attack by a single fighter against thirty plus enemy fighters without tactical advantage of height or surprise is rare almost to the point of extinction.” After he retired, James told his great military exploits in his autobiography, Roar of the Tiger. He also founded a successful systems engineering business, Howard Research. James passed away in 1995, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. To read more of our history features click here. 

by Melissa LaScaleia Have you ever wondered why the streets in the Market Common are named as they are? Most have names that are throwbacks to the history of the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in some way. Farrow Parkway, the main thoroughfare that runs alongside the Market Common district and connects Hwy 17 to Hwy 17 Business, was duly dubbed on September 25, 1987, after Lieutenant William Glover Farrow. William Farrow was born in Darlington, South Carolina, on September 24, 1918. He trained as a pilot in South Carolina, and joined the United States Army Air Corps in 1940. The following year, he received his commission as a second lieutenant, and became a member of the 34th Bomb Squadron. It was World War II, and in February 1942, Farrow volunteered to participate in the Doolittle Raid, a retaliatory attack against Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor. The mission took place on April 18, with Farrow piloting a B-25, named “Bat Out of Hell.” After hitting his targets in Nagoya, he intended to land in Chuchow, but the Japanese deactivated the beacon he was using for direction. Farrow and his crew were forced to bail near Japanese controlled Nanchang, China. They were captured, and Farrow, sentenced to death. On the eve of his execution, Farrow wrote a letter to his mother. It was recovered at the end of the war and reads: “You have given much, so much more to me than I have returned, but such is the Christian way. You are and always will be a real angel. Be brave and strong for my sake. I love you, Mom, from the depths of a full heart… Don’t let this get you down. Just remember God will make everything right and that I’ll see you all again in the hereafter… So let me implore you to keep your chin up. Be brave and strong for my sake. P.S. My insurance policy is in my bag in a small tent in Columbia. Read Thanatopsis by Bryant if you want to know how I am taking this. My faith in God is complete, so I am unafraid.” Farrow was executed on October 15, 1942. In 1946, he was interred with honors at the Arlington National Cemetery, and was posthumously awarded the Order of the Sacred Tripod of the Republic of China, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart, and the Prisoner of War Medal. Click here to read more of our history features. 

by Melissa LaScaleia The 4,000-acre area in Myrtle Beach known as the Market Common is a beautiful space with a rich history. Each phase of its evolution, from the first known native peoples— the Waccamaw and Winyah tribes— up to the installment of the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, left an indelible mark and added to its richness and diversity. The military base served our community locally, regionally and nationally, playing a prominent roll in WWII and the events of the 20th century until its closure in 1993. A redevelopment plan was carefully and thoughtfully imagined, ultimately resulting in the Market Common. A live-work-recreation space, the Market Common officially opened in 2008. It is comprised of local as well as nationally known retail stores and restaurants, townhomes and tree-lined avenues, and offers a vast array of opportunities for fun and community while preserving memories of its past. All of the streets in the district are named after former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base wing and base commanders, or other notable Air Force members who were assigned here. Placards throughout the streets and parks commemorate people, groups, and events that are linked to this area. Warbird Park retains mementos, memorabilia, and even aircraft from the Air Force Base. In each edition of the Insider, we will feature an article about the history of the area along the Grand Strand— reminders of its roots, and the people and events that contributed to make it the unique place that it is today— beloved by those who visit as well as live here. To see our successive history features click here.