The tradition began in 1952 when a B-29 Superfortress aircrew saw islanders waving at them from the island of Kapingamarangi. In the spirit of Christmas, the aircrew dropped a bundle of supplies attached to a parachute to the islanders below. Today, air drop operations include more than 50 islands. 

Read Operation Christmas Drop Part 1: Local Perspectives

Read Operation Christmas Drop Part 2: Then and Now

Read Operation Christmas Drop Part 3: Island Liaison Radio Operator

A volunteer for Operation Christmas Drop who works as the Island liaison/ radio operator, Bruce Best, talks about his favorite memories, experiences, and unique changes of OCD 2018 compared to his many years working as the radio operator communicating with the small outer island communities on all of the Micronesian islands that receive OCD humanitarian airdropped supplies. Operation Christmas Drop is a humanitarian effort involving international partners like the Japanese, Australians, Mongolians, Indians, and Kiwis. He highlighted the importance of HF radio for communication in remote islands and the logistical challenges, including fuel management and weather conditions. The event provides essential supplies, such as seeds, cement, and fishing gear, crucial for adapting to environmental changes like rising sea levels. Bruce emphasized the personal and communal significance of the Christmas Drop, expressing gratitude to the Air Force for their continued support and acknowledging the growing international cooperation and expertise in the mission.

Read the transcript of the interview filmed by Senior Airman Donald Hudson (374th Airlift Wing) on 12.13.2018 or click through the image to watch the video recording.

“I would like to thank our Air Force Warriors for coming in for the 67th year. What I do here is I run the telecommunication network to the islands. The HF radio is the only communication they have. Since they’re so remote, they don’t have satellite or fiber optic cables. They never will. So, I contact them every day to do the news and weather. For the Christmas drop I talk to the planes, coordinate the drop zones, and keep them clear. We have a really good safety record making sure all the flags are up to the drop zones. We get them notified right away if there’s changes because of weather. So mostly we run the communication and coordinate the drops for the planes and the islands every year.

Last few years, as you know, the Japanese have been joining us on the Christmas drop in their C130s. They just love to go out every day. I enjoy talking to them. They seem to be very cautious and very precise. They just work their tails off. They haven’t missed a drop. Now, the Aussies, they got a little extra fuel under their wing. That extra fuel supply allows them to make the long runs. Today, they’re going to Kapingamarangi. So yesterday, the most southwest, today, the most southeast part of our Drop Zone area, over 1.5 – 2 million square miles. Aussies are great. Japanese are great. We got our Mongolians, our Indians, our Kiwis this year, also helping out and observing. Maybe they’ll be joining us in the future.

I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years, and the people that were kids are now adults. They’re the presidents and the college professors across the Micronesia region. They tell me stories: Those boxes just don’t come out fast enough, watching when they were kids. The first time I saw a pair of shoes was in the box. And the first books we got were from the box. The most important thing for them is a parachute. Soon as that thing goes, they get that parachute. And, now it’s covering the school yards as a shade and covering the canoe houses to keep the canoes in good order. Everything in that box is well used. For the children, this is Christmas. When that CI30 rumbles over those four big motors. They know Christmas is coming. The sleigh opens up that back end and those presents come out.

Thei year has been really great. Every year for the last four years, they haven’t missed a year. We’ve had typhoon years. We’ve had some breaks and we couldn’t get all the islands. I had to get them out on canoes later on. Every year that I’ve been doing it, we haven’t missed an island. Sometimes you have to walk a half a mile across the reef because it’s low tide. At low tide, we just drop the boat on the outside of the reef, and then we got to push the stuff in through the waves, and we walk across the reef to get there. I bring cement bags, towers and batteries, everything, and they help me bring them in.

Every island I go on, they say, Brother Bruce, welcome home. I can’t count how many godchildren I have to send stuff to every year. For me, it’s a personal thing. I’ve been lucky enough with the University of Guam. They’ve supported me for the last 40 years, and then they kicked me out when I was too old, but they still let me come back and use a tower for Christmas Drop every year. There’s so much love, and they’re so friendly in the outer islands, it’s totally different from anywhere else on Earth. I take care of about 68 and plus about 25 more in the Marshalls. It’s a lot of work, but it’s well worth it.

It’s interesting this year, not only because of the international cooperation and the additional countries that are joining us, but there’s starting to be a lot of expertise in this. The winds are blowing, the weather’s been great. That’s a big thing that helps out. This year, it’s been just perfect almost every drop, and they’re getting better. The drop guys are getting better and better pushing out 1 2 3 4 5 bundles at a time. That’s the first time that’s ever happened. They’re really getting good at it. And I think the word’s getting out.

It’s hard to collect stuff at Christmas, all the fish hooks, the fishing line, and all the scuba gear, masks, fins, snorkel and spear guns, that stuff is just vital to their well-being. They build canoes. So, we send the ropes. We send them parts to keep their canoes going. And, the parachutes keep them out of the sun.

It’s getting harder and harder with sea levels raising a little bit. Their islands are getting a little salt water in the taro patches from the high waves now that they didn’t have before. So, Christmas Drop is becoming more important. We threw in bags of cement this year to raise the gardens so that higher tides come over the berm and it goes around the garden. So, they get some seed, a little plant of starters, and plants that they keep in the raised gardens that they can replant when the salt water leaves their taro patch. I think every year it gets a little more important because of the environmental changes that they’re experiencing.

The Christmas Drop has become a vital part of their life. The C130s in there, generally they are the first ones who respond to humanitarian disasters, and we seem to be having quite a few disasters across the region. And I know it’s really tough some time to get free up those C130s and get them out here from Yokota and Australia and Japan. They are used heavily. I would like to just thank the Air Force to keep this training mission as a priority every year, and I hope to do it for another 40 years. Thanks a lot to the Air Force, you guys are doing the heavy lifting, I just sit on the chair and talk story on the radio. Merry Christmas.”

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Multiple locations in Guams collect donations for Operation Christmas Drop every year (How to Donate):

Canned Goods (minimum 2 year expiration), Coffee, Cookware, Fruit/Vegetable Seeds, Rice

Children’s Books, School Supplies, Toys, Sandals/Shoes, Sunglasses/Hats, Cloth/Clothing

Antifungal cream/ointment, Hygiene Products (soap, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss)

Fishing Supplies (hooks, line, rope),Flashlight (manually powered), Towels, bed sheets, small pillows

Canopy Materials (canvas, rope), Cement (paste-not quickcrete), Hand Tools, Pond Liners (plastic sheeting), Misc (duct tape, sand paper)