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Fort Wainwright
Fort Wainwright is a United States Army post
adjacent to Fairbanks in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is part of the Fairbanks,
Alaska Metropolitan Statistical Area. Since 1978 Fort Wainwright has been
investigating and cleaning up soil and water contamination from a landfill and
drum burial site, fuel terminal, coal storage yard/fire training pits, open
detonation area and underground storage tanks. It was Superfund listed in 1990.
It was first established in 1939 as U.S. Army Air Corps as Ladd Field. In 1947
it was transferred to the newly established U.S. Air Force and renamed Ladd AFB,
serving as a cold weather station to test aircraft under arctic conditions. In
1961 it was transferred to the Army and redesignated Fort Wainwright in honor of
World War II general Jonathan Wainwright. From 1963 to 1972 it was home to the
171st Infantry Brigade, mechanized until 1969, then light. During that time, the
172nd Infantry Brigade was at Fort Richardson, in Anchorage. From 1986 to 1998
Fort Wainwright was the home of the 6th Infantry Division (Light),and served as
the division's headquarters from 1990 to 1994. From 1998 to 2006, it was home to
the 172nd Infantry Brigade, which was reorganized in 2003 as the 172nd Stryker
Brigade Combat Team (SBCT), part of the U.S. Army's transition program to
include six SBCTs. In 2006, the 172nd was re-flagged as the 1st brigade of the
25th Infantry Division. Fort Wainwright is also the home of Task Force 49, an
aviation brigade that provides logistical air support for U.S. Army Alaska,
Bassett Army Community Hospital and the Bureau of Land Management's Alaska Fire
Service.
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