Grenier Air Base: A Beacon on the Home Front

'Grenier Air Base: A Beacon on the Home Front' tells the story of Grenier Field, a military air base in Manchester, N.H. that had a major impact close to home, but also played a role in global events.

From World War II through the Vietnam era, Grenier Field was a bustling military hub, hosting tens of thousands of troops and support staff who were part of the nation's air defense system.

Time has not been kind to Grenier. Today, almost all traces of the base are gone from what is now Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. Nothing remains to remind us of the people, both military and civilian, whose service helped define life in mid-20th century America and around the world.

This book is a project of the Aviation Museum of N.H., and its goal is to trace the history of Grenier Field through the stories of those whose lives intersected with it.

From World War II fighter pilots transiting through Grenier on their way to combat in Europe, to special squadrons in the 1950s that launched top secret high-altitude balloons, 'Grenier Air Base: A Beacon on the Home Front' is composed of a range of first-hand tales as told by people who were part of the Grenier experience.

Leah Dearborn is the associate director of the Aviation Museum of N.H. She holds a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and in 2019 earned a master's degree in international relations from the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She worked as a staff writer at the Lynn Daily Item and has contributed to the Boston Globe, SOCO Magazine, The Town Common, The Chelsea Record, and other publications. As a writer, her goal is to tell stories from the past that would otherwise be lost.