Providing the place: WPAFB and the Dayton Peace Accords

  • Published
  • By Gina Marie Giardina
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  It's difficult to think of peace right now; the attacks on Paris are in the hearts and on the minds of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the local community. News stations cycle updates 24/7 and social media vibrates with more personal expressions of peace and patriotism--all homegrown efforts to combat these horrific attacks.

But with the threat of war comes the opportunity for peace.  And 20 years ago, Wright-Patt provided the place for peace to be agreed upon between Bosnia and Herzegovina, an area west of Italy just across the Adriatic Sea that had been war-torn for four years. Hundreds of thousands of people from these areas had been chased from their homes with threats or acts of violence.

Common to creating peace is the creation of compromise by those in power.  Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman came together to create this compromise...and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was chosen as the location for these compromises to be discussed and agreed upon.

Many news agencies have reported on the decision for these leaders to meet at Wright-Patt.

A quick internet search will give researchers thousands of articles about the Dayton Peace Accords, many of which also discuss the reasons why then-Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke and then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher chose Dayton and more specifically, Wright-Patterson's Hope Hotel.

According to then-88th Air Base Wing Commander Robbie Robinson, the State Department needed to determine the best location for the talks and a military installation was on their radar.

"A team went around to several military installations with the instruction to then report back recommendations to Holbrooke on the best location," explained Robinson.

Robinson explained how he showed the State Dept. team the Hope Hotel but there was a concern that the leaders of the war-torn countries would be too close to feel safe.

"I told them that we had a five-plex--the Visiting Officers Quarters--and their eyes lit up," said Robinson.

Robinson explained that this interest was due to the logistics of the VOQ--five separate but identical buildings, all within walking distance to the Hope Hotel.

"Croatians, Bosnians, Serbians, the Europeans, and the Americans--an identical building for each, all situated where people would feel comfortable, but could also come together easily," said Robinson.

This was no easy feat.  With distinguished visitors comes necessary accoutrements as well as the need for suites.  The VOQ did not have these suites, but Robinson told the State Department team that "Wright-Patt could make it happen."

And Wright-Patt did.

With an irony that poured from his words, Robinson said, "We had to tear down some walls."

David Egner, who is currently the 88th ABW Operations Support Squadron's Special Operations director, but in 1995 was a lead air traffic control specialist, spoke about the preparations for the talks.

"The times leading up to the accords were the busiest weeks of my life," Egner explained. "Every day was an adventure for us--a puzzle we just had to fill in as we went."

One of those puzzle pieces was ensuring that the leaders could move from the VOQ to the Hope Hotel--safely but also with the greatest ease.

Robinson said that the only way to walk from the VOQ to the Hope Hotel was to either walk on the street--down and around the Wright-Patt Medical Center--or to cut through the grass. 

"It was November," Robinson said. "This is Ohio and who knows what kind of weather we'd have to deal with."

So Robinson asked for a path to be constructed so our visitors could easily move back and forth between buildings.

This path, the only concrete walkway at Wright-Patterson with curves, is now known as The Peace Walk. This will be the location of a private wreath-laying ceremony Saturday, November 21 following a brunch at the Hope Hotel.

Another puzzle piece, not worried about today, is aircraft monitoring.

Egner spoke about the technology back in 1995 and how GPS monitoring wasn't around yet.

"Once we received the 'yes--these leaders are on their way to Wright-Patt', it was like the sky just lit up with planes," Egner recalled. "We had to ensure they had authorization to land on our airfield, and if not--we helped them make other arrangements at the Dayton airport."

Also adding to the puzzle was communication.

Egner explained that other parts of the base were quick to answer various last-minute needs and one of these was the need for interpreters.  Members of some of the flight crews did not speak English.

And while the importance of communicating internally existed, the importance for the story of this peace accords needed to be told externally as well.

Ronald Fry, who is currently the Air Force Materiel Command Public Affairs director, but was the Air Force Materiel Command News Division chief at the time, also recalled the excitement from his perspective.

"On the day of the signing, the parking lot at Hope Hotel was filled with satellite trucks broadcasting the news worldwide," said Fry.  "CNN aired the signing ceremony live and all the major TV networks were here, too."

In a 1995 article from Leading Edge, an AFMC publication, the words of then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher were captured and paint the part the U.S. and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base played by offering the place for compromise.

"We have an urgent and important purpose today," said Christopher during an opening ceremony event Nov. 1, 1995 to begin preparations for what was originally called the Proximity Peace Talks. "We are here to give Bosnia-Herzegovina a chance to be a country at peace, not a killing field--a place where people can sleep in their homes, walk to work, and worship in their churches, mosques and synagogues without fear of violence and death."

"Dayton (Ohio) is the place where the fundamental choices were made," Christopher continued. "This is where the parties chose peace over war, dialogue over destruction, reason over revenge.  And this is where each of us accepted the challenge to make those choices meaningful and to make them endure."

And 20 years later, the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Dayton communities reflect with pride on how they came together to accomplish for other nations' peace.