The military has added a wonderful flavor to life in Southern Pines. Many of the soldiers and officers from Fort Bragg have found homes here, and over the years many have also found wives.
The 82nd Airborne Band has played for many local events. Capt. Leroy Anderson, who just happened to be a distinguished composer fulfilling a duty on the base, some years ago joined the Sandhills Music Association to conduct several of his own works played by the N.C. Symphony.
From 1951 to 1957, Southern Pines was host to a unique military school at the Highland Pines Inn, one of its most beautiful hostelries. Every week, officers would come from all over the country to take intensive indoctrination courses in air and ground warfare. Named the “U.S. Air Force Air Ground School,” it was called by its acronym, USAFAGOS.
The whole idea was new. With the Korean War going on, air and ground leaders found they didn’t know how to work with each other effectively. Many of the pupils came directly from the battlefield to the school.
One week, the story of Col. Dean Hess, who had been in Korea training ROK fliers, was in the Saturday Evening Post, telling how he had organized an airlift to save the children in an orphanage threatened by a North Korean advance. That same week, he arrived at USAFAGOS as an instructor. He stayed about a year, then was sent on to Annapolis, Md., as an instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Eighty families of men attached to the staff lived in our town and held church memberships. They contributed to every worthwhile campaign and drive, putting them right over the top. They had their own fire truck and held fire drills.
The hotel, built in 1912 on land and with lumber given by the Boyds, was of wood, its front columns three stories tall. USAFAGOS had many social events, to which townspeople were invited. The officers were always available to speak to groups on a variety of subjects. They came from Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, and also from the British services. The students included Greek and Italian officers and others from countries that were our allies.
Brig. Gen. W.M. Gross, the commandant, felt the situation here was ideal. The very fact that they lived off base, away from the military atmosphere, was perfect for the relaxation he felt the men needed in order to do their job well.
Gross’s successor, who came in late 1956, Daniel M. Jenkins, felt just the opposite. He thought the men would do better in the disciplined atmosphere of a military camp, and he said he would try his best to get the school moved to Kessler Field, Miss.
He also said the hotel was just a “beautiful big firetrap.” The townspeople were upset, and those who had any pull with Washington or the military brass tried their best to find strings to pull to keep USAFAGOS here.
Then, early on Sunday morning, Jan. 20, 1957, the inn went up in smoke and flames. Since it was a weekend, there was hardly anyone there. A young airman on duty as night watchman sounded the alarm, and soon the whole town had gathered to see one of the most spectacular sights there had ever been in this town. Flames leapt up into the night, sparks flew a mile high, and the heart pine of which the inn was built crackled like a giant Yule log.
Gen. Jenkins thanked everyone for their help and said the school would soon be on its way to Kessler. And so it was.
