Hamilton Air Force Base, California - Base Flagpole
The flagpole was designed by Nurse's staff of architects to reflect the Spanish Eclectic theme on base. Built in 1934, the pole graced the entry to the administration core on base, the headquarters building.
The base flagpole was erected along the axis point at the front of the hub configuration that forms the core of the main base area. A concrete sidewalk extends from the entry of the headquarters building and past the flagpole to the outside edge of the semi-circular lawn that forms the top of the hub. Around the flagpole is a circular area containing four concrete seating benches.
The 75-foot-tall steel flagpole rests in a octagonal corniced three-foot-diameter cast-iron base placed on a stepped octagonal platform of concrete. The bottom of the platform is 10 feet in diameter. The base has a bronze collar and the top is capped with a 10-inch-diameter, 20-ounce copper ball.
In 1944, the base dedicatory plaque in the memory of Lloyd A. Hamilton was moved from the base entrance and was cemented onto the flagpole's platform. The bronze plaque indicates that Hamilton Field was dedicated to the memory of Lloyd Andrews Hamilton, a 1st Lieutenant in the 17th Aero Squadron who was killed in action over Lagnicourt, France in 1918. An additional commemorative plaque was placed beneath the original during the 1960s, on an extension made to the concrete pole platform.
