For 30 years the US. Denmark, and Greenland have worked and lived together on the world's largest island. The Air Force can trace its presence in Greenland to the early 1940s, when the Axis advance in Europe reached Eastern Greenland. On 9 April 1941, Greenland's security was entrusted to the US by the Danish Ambassador Henrik Kaufmann. Under the terms of the agreement the US established a number of bases in Greenland. Those bases were located primarily in southern Greenland and served as vital resupply stations for troops and planes enroute to Europe. Sondestrom Air Base, known as Bluie West 8, Narssarssuaq, Bluie West 1, helped preserve Greenland's security and freedom. Thule, farther north, was Bluie West 6 and saw no activity during the war. After WW II, B-17 reconnaissance and navigation flights were conducted from a dirt landing strip between 1946-1947 under "Project Nanook." The challenge of the severe arctic environment had been met and the feasibility of routinely conducting large scale military operations had been proven. In 1949 Denmark became a member of NATO and two years later an agreement pertaining to the defense of Greenland was signed. Thule Air Base owes its present size and location to the terms of the agreement. In the summer of 1951 construction was started on Thule's runway and base property and completed in 1953. Throughout the 1950s and the 1960s, bombers, tankers, fighters, and transports operated from Thule, providing a deterrent force contributing to the defense of North America. With the advent of space flight it became imperative for the US to build facilities to detect and track ICBM launches and to command and control polar orbiting DOD satellites. The Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) and the Thule Tracking Station were constructed in 1961 and have since become the cornerstone of Space Command's ground based space operations. Over the intervening years Thule's span of military operations has reduced. However, through a series of broadly based support agreements, the 12th Space Warning Squadron (SWS) continues to work hand-in-hand with the Danish and Greenlandic allies to further the spirit of Knud Rasmussen's "Thule Law." This "Thule Law" is a special code of conduct which Americans, Danes, and Greenlanders take pride in doing whatever is necessary to support the numerous science, exploration, research, and military projects staged out of Thule. Knud Rasmussen, Peter Freuchen, and Robert Perry, to name a few, knew the Arctic season was short and the opportunities for failure many. In the most modern sense the 12 SWS is committed to "doing whatever it takes" to preserve the long standing tradition of service and support to those who live and work in the Arctic.