PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - This is the first time the name of a U.S. military combatant command headquarters includes a Canadian military officer’s name.
The North American Aerospace Defense and United States Northern Command headquarters building at Peterson Air Force Base was named the Eberhart – Findley Building today in honour of U.S. Air Force General (Ret.) Ralph E. Eberhart and Royal Canadian Air Force Lieutenant-General (Ret.) Eric A. Findley. The naming ceremony occurred during the celebration of the tenth anniversary of U.S. Northern Command, the combatant command charged with the defense of the U. S. homeland following the 9/11 attacks.
General Eberhart and General Findley had the watch together on Sept. 11, 2001, to bring order to the chaos of that infamous day. As the decision was made to create a military command devoted to guarding the homeland, General Eberhart refined the initial concept of a combatant command for homeland defense, outlining the essential capabilities. At the same time, General Findley provided the personal and professional connection between a mature, bi-national command and a new, U.S. geographic command as NORAD Director of Operations and then Deputy Commander, NORAD.
The new plaque to be affixed to the HQ building reads as follows:
EBERHART-FINDLEY BUILDING
Named in Honor of General Ralph E. Eberhart, USAF, Eighteenth Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command and First Commander, United States Northern Command, 2000 – 2004, and Lieutenant-General Eric A. Findley, CF, Battle Staff Director, Director of Operations, and Nineteenth Deputy Commander, North American Aerospace Defense Command, 2001 – 2007
THEY HAD THE WATCH