‘They Are Us, and We Are Them,’ so Islanders Prepare Welcome for Crew

If ever there was a company town, this is it.

Although not strictly existing to support the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, this tidy seaside community has for 60 years operated symbiotically with the military base that straddles it to the north and south.

So, as the Navy prepared Friday to welcome home the 24 crew members of the surveillance plane detained for 11 days in China, it seemed that the citizenry of Whidbey Island likewise labored furiously, sprucing up to receive treasured family members.

In a community where military personnel and civilians live, play and pray side by side, the distinction between the two sectors is simply not made.

“They are us, and we are them,” said Priscilla Heidecker, executive director of the Greater Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce.

Her sentiments were echoed elsewhere here, where busy ferries run tourists to other islands in the San Juan chain and spruce and pine trees hug the two-lane highway that runs like a spine from the north to the south of the 35-mile-long island in the Strait of San Juan de Fuca.

Those trees have been bedecked, as have most foliage, car antennas, light poles and front doors, with miles of yellow ribbon. In fact, the island’s ribbon supply has been exhausted. Thin plastic surveyor’s tape was wound around the necks of town dogs and other willing beasts in Friday’s rush to put the finishing touches on the island’s celebration for the returning crew.

Fourteen of the 24 crew members make their homes here. The others are based here temporarily.

Today’s ceremony is to be held in Hangar 6 at what is surely one of the nation’s most picturesque military installations. The views of Skagit Bay, Rosario Strait and the mouth of Puget Sound--leading to Seattle 60 miles to the south--are unmatched.

“I think people would be surprised to find a naval base surrounded by bald eagle populations and so much natural beauty,” said Krista Blackburn, assistant to Mayor Patricia Cohen. “I’ll tell you the truth--this really is a storybook kind of place. Oak Harbor would not be the same place without our military.”

The focus here Friday was on preparations for the crew’s triumphant return. Navy officials set aside their usual duties and scrambled to organize a “simple but dignified’ ceremony. Planning was so extensive and laborious that the base commander was compelled to call the proceedings a “production,” which he detailed to a throng of international reporters much as a Broadway impresario might describe an upcoming musical.

“It’s been a Team Whidbey production effort,” said Capt. Larry Salter, the harried base commander. Salter did not hesitate to declare the event the usually quiet base’s most extravagant.

The Whidbey Island Naval Air Station began as a staging point for seaplanes during World War II and, as it grew, took over nearby farm fields. Today, it is regarded as the largest electronic warfare base in the world, home to some of the U.S. military’s most sophisticated surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft. In addition to the EP-3E Aries like the one still in Chinese custody, the base has squadrons of EA-6B Prowlers, electronic warfare planes designed to scramble enemy communications and a group of P-3 sub hunters.

The military presence is both physical--more than 7,700 military personnel, 11,000 family members and 1,300 civilian employees--and personal. Local officials estimate that the base drives 75% of the area’s economy. Although Oak Harbor, with a population of 21,000, and the surrounding communities have sought to diversify their economic base with artsy enclaves designed to draw tourists, the business of the area is the Navy.

While such town-and-base dynamics can create tensions elsewhere, no one here seems to begrudge the friendly relationship.

Island County Commissioner William “Mac” McDowell came here 25 years ago flying Navy planes and left active duty so that he could stay.

“The community is totally integrated with the military,” he said. “The relationship the Navy has with the town is incredible. The Navy people volunteer. They coach our Little League and our peewee football teams. On an official level, we have agreements between their fire department and ours, our law enforcement and theirs. We back each other up at every level.”

Town officials have deferred to the Navy for today’s ceremony. They plan to honor the 24 crew members in their own way, making them grand marshals at the annual Holland Holidays parade April 28.

“We like to say the people who founded this island were the Dutch and the Navy,” said Carol Clark, a hotel manager. “That’s what the Navy means to us.”

*

Times researcher Lynn Marshall in Seattle contributed to this report.