Patrol Squadron Two (VP-2), a squadron that underwent five name changes during its twenty-six years of service, was disestablished in 1969. In the early 1980’s, led by Frank and Marie Hart, a small group of VP-2 veterans formed the VP-2 Association. That Association of squadron “alumni” has grown over the years to over 500 members despite the fact that the pool of those eligible to join is dwindling.

        While touring Ault Field in 2000, the VP-2 Association president, Floyd Palmer, remarked that there was nothing on the base or in the town to represent the proud heritage of what the VP forces had accomplished over the years or the sacrifices they had made in the defense of freedom. That prompted an initiative to explore ways to create a Memorial dedicated to those Navy personnel who served in patrol squadrons at NAS Whidbey Island during the fifty-eight years that the base had been in existence.

        A Memorial committee was formed, whose initial emphasis was on finding a P2V-7 that could be given to the Naval Air Station as a memorial display for the main gate area of the base. An aircraft was located and plans were formulated to truck it from the Pima Museum in Arizona to NAS Whidbey Island. The plan was briefed to those in attendance at the 2002 VP-2 Association reunion in Branson, MO. The membership listened to the plan, then, after extensive discussion, voted to have the Memorial committee explore alternative options for a Memorial since it was believed that an aircraft would be too expensive and would need continuing care and maintenance.

        For the next year, the Memorial committee investigated many avenues of Memorial design that would use bronze statuary and/or granite stonework in a variety of tableaus. Work was also done on refining the definition of what and who should be “memorialized.” Early on, the committee recognized that it did not have the time or the resources to create a national VP Memorial that would honor or name all the deceased from all VP operations around the world. One factor that contributed to making that decision was the realization that there is no agency in the Navy or anywhere in our government that lists all the victims of Navy aircraft accidents. In order to list the names of all victims and even to incorporate all pertinent accidents/operations, the committee would have to do their own research. Largely for that reason, the committee decided to limit the scope of the Memorial to NAS Whidbey Island VP squadrons and to limit the listing of deceased persons to those from Whidbey P2V squadrons only. An overriding factor was the committee’s insistence that it not try to list people on the Memorial unless it could do so with absolute accuracy of dates, names, ranks/ratings, spellings, etc. To enlarge the scope of the Memorial beyond these stated limits would undoubtedly introduce errors that would not be acceptable.

        For a time, the Memorial committee investigated bronze and granite options as possible supplements to an aircraft static display. As the result of the World Trade Center attack on 9/11/2001, the Naval Air Station made the decision that it did not want a P2V-7 at the main gate that might create unwanted activity of visitors in that area. Although the base was willing to explore locations inside and away from the main gate, they were not willing to guarantee that visitors without government ID cards would be able to visit a Memorial on the base. Other options for locating an aircraft oriented Memorial off the base were explored and, one-by-one, discarded. There was no suitable place to put such an exhibit on or near the base. At that point, all plans to use an aircraft for the Memorial were abandoned in favor of using bronze and granite only for the design.

        In 2003, the Memorial committee finalized its recommended Memorial design and presented it to the VP-2 Association membership in a mailing that was intended to seek approval of the design and also to encourage pledges to gauge the amount of monetary support the committee could expect from the membership. The original design consisted of a granite wall that would show the names of those who had died in Whidbey P2V squadron operations and would list all the VP squadrons that had been home-based at NAS Whidbey Island since 1942. The center panel of the three-paneled wall would house the Memorial dedication:

        THIS MEMORIAL IS DEDICATED TO ALL UNITED STATES NAVY PERSONNEL WHO SERVED IN NAVY PATROL SQUADRONS BASED AT NAS WHIDBEY ISLAND, AND TO THE MANY WHIDBEY AIRMEN WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN VP OPERATIONS. WE HONOR THEM ALL.

        In front of the granite wall would be a slightly larger than life-sized bronze statue of an airman in vintage 1960’s flight gear. There were to be two granite benches in front of the airman, and the statue of a woman was to be seated on one of the benches. The statue of a child was to be standing beside the seated woman. The statues and the granite wall and benches would be housed on a patio constructed of bricks that would bear the inscriptions provided by those who ordered them as the chief source of the revenue needed to fund the Memorial project.

        The membership of the VP-2 Association wholeheartedly approved the Memorial design as it was presented to them. Never having built a Memorial before, the committee was concerned about the cost of a three-statue design in consideration of the amount of financial support that had been pledged in the voting process. As a result, the committee removed the woman and child statues from the design in order to bring the overall cost down to a more realistic, achievable figure. The one-statue design was presented to the Oak Harbor parks board and the City Council and, after several months, both finally approved the Memorial for placement in their Veterans Memorial Park.

        Once the VP-2 Association membership and the Oak Harbor City Council approved the Memorial design, full scale fund-raising began. Articles about the Memorial went out to interested military magazines. Letters and brochures by the thousands went out to civic organizations, defense contractors, local Oak Harbor businesses and the many thousands of Whidbey VP and ex-VP personnel whose addresses could be found. The resulting financial support for the Whidbey Patrol Squadron Memorial was overwhelming and certainly sufficient to build the Memorial.

        With the full support of the city of Oak Harbor, construction began in July 2006 and was completed just a week before the dedication on September 14, 2006. The Whidbey VP community and our own Patrol Squadron Two Association are indebted to those who worked tirelessly and with great devotion for years as members of the Memorial committee to bring the Memorial to its conclusion. We also thank the Mayor, the City Council and the Parks Board of Oak Harbor whose foresight and invaluable assistance made the Memorial possible.