JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Sailors and airmen spent Thursday morning honoring the past and looking to the future as Naval Air Station Jacksonville celebrated its 75th anniversary as the first naval air base in northeast Florida.
Part of the celebration included compiling an unusual time capsule made of an ammunition box. In it, sailors and airmen placed command coins, a history book, badges and other historical items.
"We added a commemorative plaque from our inaugural deployment with the P-8 Poseidon through the western Pacific that we just came back from in the spring," said Cmdr. Joe Levey, executive officer of VP-5 Poseidon.
The ceremony was a walk down memory lane for many sailors and airmen at the base.
"I've been in Jacksonville, learned how to fly maritime patrol here, met my wife here, this place is family to me, and Jacksonville is a very special place to me and to a lot of people in our community," Levey said. "I think about the times when I was young here and all the aircraft that we'd be flying over the skies, the old P-3 Orions."
Levey joined dozens of sailors and commanders spending the morning honoring NAS Jax and putting items in the time capsule, which will be hidden behind a wall instead of buried underground.
The ammo box will prevent the time capsule from deteriorating or getting lost 50 years from now.
The capsule will be locked up in a special vault in a new building, sealed off with a plaque indicating where it is and when to open it -- Oct. 15, 2065.
The ceremony celebrated the men and women of NAS Jacksonville and all the hard work that goes on daily at the base. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and other leaders were there as well. Many said they were happy to be back at the home where the world-famous Blue Angels started.