BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The 106th Air Refueling Squadron of the Alabama Air National Guard, in collaboration with the Southern Museum of Flight and the Million Air FBO Corporation, will hold a memorial ceremony on April 15 at 2:00 p.m. at Forest Hill Cemetery. The event commemorates the 64th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs mission, which claimed the lives of four Alabama Airmen: Leo Baker, Wade Gray, Pete Ray, and Riley Shamburger.
The Bay of Pigs was a covert Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) mission aimed at using Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and incite a revolution against Fidel Castro. The operation involved Airmen from the 117th Reconnaissance Wing, now known as the 117th Air Refueling Wing, Alabama Air National Guard. Due to the mission’s secretive nature, details about the operation and the Airmen’s fate remained undisclosed for over two decades. It took another twenty years before the CIA publicly acknowledged the failed invasion and the loss of the Alabama Airmen.
In 2012, the 117th Air Refueling Wing began an annual tradition of honoring the fallen Airmen by laying a wreath on the grave of Thomas “Pete” Ray, who was killed in action. This solemn event serves to commemorate the Bay of Pigs operation and to honor the heroic predecessors of the Alabama Air National Guard…