This day, September 3rd, marks the day in 1941 that nine officers and 221 enlisted men arrived in Nome to protect the Marks Army Airfield, named after Major Jack S. Marks, a pilot from Ladd Army Airfield who died in the Aleutians. The field was completed and opened in July of that year.

The airstrip was first utilized for transfer of Lend-Lease aircraft to the Soviet Union during World War II then the following year it took over defending the air over the west coast of Alaska at various times with the 404th Bombardment Squadron of the 28th Bombardment Group and the 56th Fighter Squadron of the 54th Fighter Group.

The field was renamed in 1947 to Marks Air Force Base. The field at that time was utilized as a fighter-interceptor forward base until that task was turned over to Galena two years later. The Air Force would shut down the field, which would then become the Nome Airport.

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