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"S" is for Shaw Air Force Base

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  "S" is for Shaw Air Force Base. Established in 1941 on the outskirts of Sumter to train pilots for World War II, Shaw Air Force Base later evolved into a home for U.S. Air Force tactical units. The facility was named after Sumter native Ervin Shaw, a pilot shot down over France in July 1918. In 1948 the base became part of the Tactical Air Command and in 1950 home to the Ninth Air Force. Its planes played an active role in the cold war, including reconnaissance patrols over Cuba during the 1962 Missile Crisis. In 1993 Shaw became the permanent home of the Twentieth Fighter Wing. Following the September 2001 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, Shaw Air Force Base had personnel and planes assigned to action against Taliban and Al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.