Naval Air Station Meridian turned 45 on Friday and city and county officials came out to enjoy cake and reflect on the benefits the base has provided Lauderdale County.

Capt. Russell Knight, commanding officer of NAS Meridian, welcomed officials and gave a brief history of the base during an informal ceremony Friday in the Roy M. Wheat Galley.

“Forty-nine years ago, they broke ground at NAS Meridian,” Knight said.

“We’re here to train Naval aviators, Marine aviators, sailors and Marines, which is why we’re having this ceremony in the galley today — because we have our sailors and Marines here. We train them and we put them on the tip of the spear to defend our freedoms around the world, and that is why this base is important to our national defense.”

Guests included Lamar McDonald of the Meridian Navy League, Circuit Clerk Donna Jill Johnson, Tax Assessor Jimmy Slay, Bruce Hodge, administrator of the G.V. Sonny Montgomery Veteran’s Administration Clinic, T.L. Hightower, former commanding officer of NAS Meridian and Jamie Williams, whose father, Joe Williams, was the second commanding officer of NAS Meridian.

Ken Storms, the city’s chief administrative officer, who served as the base’s commanding officer and wing commander, also attended the luncheon.

Knight introduced the guest speaker, former Meridian Mayor Al Rosenbaum. Mayor from 1977 to 1985, Rosenbaum is also a retired Marine officer and aviator.

“People like Al Rosenbaum understood and saw that the encroachment issue (due to the noise of the aircraft) would be very significant in the coming years,” Knight said. “And because of that, they would find a place that was remote and isolated, where encroachment would not be an issue and they put a base there.”

Knight said Rosenbaum was a major factor in securing the base at NAS Meridian.

Rosenbaum spoke about how he and former local television station president Bob Wright worked together to bring a Naval base to Lauderdale County.

“We got it,” Rosenbaum said. “He and I stood together in 1957 when they started the construction. The people in Meridian wanted it.”

Current Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith reflected on the base’s survival through four rounds of base closures, including the most recent one in 2005. Smith said in that one historic Base Realignment and Closure round, more than 20,000 Lauderdale County residents came out to show their support.

He also remembered when sailors stationed at NAS Meridian began cleaning the opera house in downtown Meridian in 1987 so that performances could be held there. The opera house is now the home of the soon-to-open Mississippi State University Riley Center for Education and Performing Arts.

“It started with NAS Meridian being a part and it will end with NAS being a part of the opening celebration,” Smith said.

Meridian was chosen in 1987 by the U.S. Department of Defense, Smith said, as one of the top five communities in the nation for the support between the military and the community.

“There is love between the men and women of Meridian and the men and women who come to serve here — those young men and women that become parts of our family literally as they marry into families here, but also become part of the larger family of Meridian,” Smith said.