Early history

In March 1941 Roosevelt administration declared Ethiopia eligible for the military aid program known as the Lend-Lease program. This was done to support the British troops in Libya and Egypt which were fighting Germany's Afrika Korps. The focus of the lend-lease program was in Eritrea, a former Italian colony which strategically bordered the Red Sea. British forces had established a communications base at the former Italian radio communications base named called Radio Marina, which was located in Asmara, Eritrea. The British used the former Italian name for the base, Radio Marina. The United States received access to the base from the British beginning in 1942. The United States would initially call the former Radio Marina the "Asmara Barracks," but the name "Radio Marina" would become the more enduring name for the base until the base was officially named "Kagnew Station". In 1943 a seven-man detachment refurbished the former British facilities and began testing the new equipment they installed. Eritrea's geographical location; 15 degrees north of the equator at an altitude of 7,600 feet (2,300 m), was excellent for sending and receiving radio signals. Early testing proved so promising that the War Department moved to expand operations before Asmara Barracks officially opened.

On June 1, 1943, two officers, one warrant officer and 44 enlisted men began intensive training at Vint Hill Farms to man Radio Marina. In December, 4 officers and 50 enlisted men staffed Radio Marina, a base located on an arrowhead-shaped tract of land, designated as Tract A by the U.S. Military. While the United States had access to base since 1942, a formalized agreement to permit the United States use of the site did not exist until 1952 when the Ethiopian government, the federation of Eritrea and the United States signed an agreement.

Kagnew Station Tract E:

In 1953, the base officially acquired the name of Kagnew Station. The United States obtained from the Ethiopian government, a tract of land several city blocks to the west of Tract A, which it designated Tract E. In 1957 the activities and headquarters for Kagnew Station began moving to Tract E. Kagnew Station was officially dedicated in 1958 on Tract E.

Kagnew Station was supplied by planes from the U.S. Airbase in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and by ships docking at the Red Sea port of Massawa. Its chapel had a seating capacity of 220 and an over-flow space to accommodate 150 more persons. The Guest House had eight rooms, a lobby and a kitchen, all made of concrete-block construction. The Roosevelt Theatre seated 320 patrons and was equipped with a CinemaScope screen and the latest sound and projection equipment. The gymnasium had a regulation basketball court with bleachers, retractable backboards and an electric scoreboard. It also housed ten bowling lanes, a boxing ring, gymnastic equipment, a locker room and shower rooms. The Dependent School had 17 classrooms, a large auditorium, science laboratory and library. A combined laundry-and-dry-cleaning plant could clean 50,000 pieces a month. KANU TV and KANU Radio provided television and radio services. Kagnew also had the usual Commissary, Post Exchange, snack bar and post office. The base Service Center included a music room, craft shop, photography darkroom, library and an auto shop. A football field, softball field and an indoor pool were also available. Children could play golf on the $22,000 miniature golf course; and adults played on the 18-hole golf course. Kagnew Farms, located northwest of Tract E, on the old Radio Marina Transmitter Site, became a recreation and picnic area known as Kagnew Farms until construction of STONEHOUSE at the same site in 1964. Kagnew Farms contained a skeet range, a small-bore rifle and pistol range, the Afro-American Racing Club's banked-dirt oval track (Used for car races, motorcycle scrambles and gherry cart races.), and a large picnic area.

The military passed off Kagnew Station as a "telephone relay station" to disguise its real activities. The secret of Kagnew Station was kept not by hiding the equipment but by openly displaying the equipment and passing it off as something innocent: a telephone relay station and deep space research site. In 1964, an 85-foot (26 m) dish and a 150-foot (46 m) dish arrived in Massawa and were brought up the mountain in sections to Kagnew Station. The dishes were used at Stonehouse,^[2] the military's "Deep Space Research Site," which was a joint project of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the Army Security Agency (ASA). Other agencies operating at Kagnew Station included the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Army Security Agency (ASA), the U.S. Strategic Communications Command (STRATCOM), the Navy Communications (NAVCOMM) and a signal research unit. Located on nearly the same longitude as the Soviet deep space command center in the Crimea, the large Stonehouse antennas were used to monitor telemetry from a variety of Russian spacecraft.

As more personnel and dependants began to arrive in the 1960s a severe family housing shortage saw portions of Tract A, become a housing area. New apartment buildings replaced the older barracks buildings and football field.

The United States spent 77 million dollars building Kagnew Station. In terms of 2006 dollars, Kagnew Station would have cost 495 million dollars to build.

Tracts A through H:

Kagnew Station consisted of eight (8) separate sections of land called tracts. Kagnew Station's tracts were designated by the letters A through H.

Tract A is the old Italian Navy's Radio Marina site. "Radio Marina" translates to "Radio Navy". It is located within the city of Asmara. When the Italians were defeated by the English forces during World War II, Radio Marina became controlled by the British military administration until they left Eritrea. At that time the British handed off Radio Marina to the United States. While the United States had access to base since 1942, a formalized agreement to permit the United States use of the site did not exist until 1952 when the Ethiopian government, the federation of Eritrea and the United States signed an agreement. When construction had progressed enough on Tract E, Kagnew Station officially opened on Tract E in 1958. Tract A remained active and underwent changes in the following two decades including the former parade ground and ball field becoming dependent housing areas.

Following the withdrawal from Kagnew Station by the U.S. military, Tract A by Mengistu Haile Mariam's troops and Tract A was then called Algen Camp.

Tract B was the STRATCOM receiver site and was the site closest to the Asmara airport. Following the withdrawal from Tract B by U.S. Military forces the Tract B site was used as a prison. On May 19, 2004, Amnesty International reported, under the heading of "Secret Prisons in Eritrea" the existence of a secret prison on Tract B (also known as "Track B," which they stated was located near the airport in Asmara. The prison was said to hold Eritrean People's Liberation Front veterans, conscripts, alleged armed Islamists, and people accused or forging identity documents or smuggling army deserters out of the country.

Tract C was known as the Operations Site. It was located west of Tract E and its large antenna field was slangly referred to as "the funny farm". The site operated 24 hours a day. Operations on Tract C ceased March 24, 1972.

Tract D was the STRATCOM transmitter site and was located near a dam. The dam by tract D blown up by shifta in mid-1972.

Tract E was the Kagnew Station headquarters for the completely self-contained U.S. Cold War intelligence facility located in the isolated province of Eritrea, Ethiopia, (now the State of Eritrea). Kagnew Station was an oasis of luxury in the poverty stricken land of Eritrea. Tract E was supplied by aircraft from the U.S. Airbase in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and by ships docking at the Red Sea port of Massawa. Tract E's chapel had a seating capacity of 220 and an over-flow space to accommodate 150 more persons. The Guest House on Tract E had eight rooms, a lobby and a kitchen, all made of concrete-block construction. The Roosevelt Theatre seated 320 patrons and was equipped with a Cinemascope screen and the latest sound and projection equipment. The gymnasium on Tract E had a regulation basketball court with bleachers, retractable backboards and an electric scoreboard. It also housed ten bowling lanes, a boxing ring, gymnastic equipment, a locker room and shower rooms. The Dependent School inside Tract E had 17 classrooms, a large auditorium, science laboratory and library. Tract E contained a combined laundry-and-dry-cleaning plant the KANU Television and KANU Radio services, a Commissary, Post Exchange, snack bar and post office. The base Service Center included a music room, craft shop, photography darkroom, library and an auto shop. A football field, softball field and an indoor pool were also located inside the walls surrounding Tract E. Children played golf on a $22,000 miniature golf course and adults played golf on the 18-hole golf course.

Tract F was the home of the Navy receiver site.

Tract G was the home of the U.S. Army STRATCOM Satellite terminal at Gura.

Tract H was the home of the Navy Transmitter site at Gura.

Recreation:

Recreation at Kagnew Station was available in many forms. In addition to on and off base recreation, Kagnew Station had R & R centers available for those serving at Kagnew Station and their dependants (wives and children).

Kagnew Farms was located by Asmara and opened October 22, 1961 on the old Radio Marina transmitter site northwest of Tract E. Kagnew Farms contained a skeet range, a small-bore rifle and pistol range, the Afro-American Racing Club's banked-dirt oval track which was used for car races, motorcycle scrambles and gherry cart races. Kagnew Farms also contained a large picnic Area. In 1964 Kagnew Farms was over-taken by the construction of Stonehouse.

The Keren (Cheren) R & R Center opened June 1959 and closed January 1971. The U.S. Army Massawa R & R Center, located in the C.I.A.A.O. Hotel, a hotel prefabricated in Italy and put together in Massawa in 1937, closed in 1963 for financial reasons. On November 4, 1967, the U.S. Army Red Sea Rest Center, opened in Massawa and was maintained by TTU (Transportation Terminal Unit).