Maj. Zeb "Spades" Kimball, co-pilot and instructor aboard a C-130J Super Hercules dubbed Santa 41," discusses the day's Operation Christmas Drop sorties on Dec. 11, 2024. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)
U.S. airmen put their Santa hats back into storage over the weekend after successfully concluding the 73rd Operation Christmas Drop, according to the 374th Airlift Wing.
The Defense Department’s longest-running humanitarian airlift exercise officially concluded Saturday after delivering 220 boxes of supplies to more than 58 islands in the Western Pacific, according to a news release Thursday from the wing at Yokota Air Base, Japan.
“Operation Christmas Drop 2024 showcased the strength of our international partnerships and our commitment to being a force for good in the Indo-Pacific region,” Col. Brett Cochran, 374th Air Expeditionary Wing commander, told Stars and Stripes by email Thursday.
Cochran is also the wing’s deputy commander.
“The collaboration among our close allies for such a complex and meaningful mission highlights what we can achieve together and ensures we’re ready for anything,” he said.
Although the airlift wing at Yokota coordinates the event, the 36th Wing at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, is the host, the point where the airdropped bundles are prepared and from which the crews fly their delivery routes.
Senior Airman Juan Lucero, a loadmaster with the 36th Airlift Squadron, watches as Operation Christmas Drop bundles fall off the coast of Ifalik in the Pacific Ocean, Dec. 11, 2024. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)
More than 300 airmen and volunteers from the Air Force and four partner nations — Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea — participated this year beginning Dec. 2.
C-130J Super Hercules and C-130H Hercules transport aircraft from all five countries flew a combined 224 ½ hours across 29 sorties to deliver approximately 77,300 pounds of supplies to the islands.
Operation Christmas Drop is a means to deliver necessities to the far-flung islands — many of which rely on the annual event — and a way to give air crews real-life experience in coordinating and executing low-altitude airdrops.
Volunteers load the supplies into boxes and often embellish them with personalized holiday greetings. The essentials — food, water, clothing, tools and medical necessities — are augmented with toys for the children of the remote islands and atolls.
The event traces its origins to the Christmas season of 1952, when an aircrew aboard a B-29 Superfortress noticed islanders waving at them from Kapingamarangi, about 3,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. The crew ultimately dropped a bundle of supplies to the island, hoping to spread a little Christmas joy, according to Andersen’s website.
In its modern form, the operation delivers around 40 tons of supplies annually to more than 42,000 islanders while covering approximately 1.8 million square miles of airspace, according to a Dec. 10 news release from the 374th Airlift Wing.
“Making OCD 2024 happen was a monumental effort, and I am deeply grateful for the dedication and professionalism of everyone involved who went to great lengths to bring joy to Pacific islander communities,” Cochran said.
