Happy Hooligans honored

News | December 23rd, 2015

ND National Guard unit recognized with top award

On December 5 the North Dakota National Guard’s 119th Wing, aka the Happy Hooligans, was awarded the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award for its “exceptional service, commitment and mission accomplishment.” The AFOUA is an annual award presented to units across the active-duty Air Force, Reserves and Air National Guard that have distinguished themselves. This event marked the 17th time the Happy Hooligans have been honored with an AFOUA.

The ceremony took place at the Air National Guard base in Fargo during a unit training assembly. The AFOUA itself was presented by Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, the North Dakota adjutant general.

“The unit provides security for our bases and missile fields, gathers critical intelligence and supports warfighters around the world with expert use of remotely piloted aircraft, and enables mission success through critical medical, administrative and services support skills,” Sprynczynatyk said at the ceremony. “It’s no wonder why the Happy Hooligans have become one of the most recognized groups of professionals in today’s military.”

Lt. Gen. Joseph Lengyel, vice chief of the National Guard Bureau, spoke at the ceremony about what makes the celebrated Hooligans unique.

“The Hooligans are a solution unit,” Lengyel said during the event. “They get things done. They have a work ethic like no other…what strikes me the most and continues to strike me the most with the 119th is this excellence combined with the humility. Such humble excellence is rare.”

SMSgt. David H Lipp, the public affairs officer for the 119th Wing, understands that excellence is the standard set for the Happy Hooligans, explaining that this award is part of a long, decorated history since the unit’s very beginning.

“The Happy Hooligans have a tradition of excellence that dates back to before the unit inception Jan. 16, 1947,” Lipp said. “As the WWII Army Air Forces demobilized in 1945 and 1946, inactivated units were allotted and transferred to various State and Territorial Air National Guard bureaus to re-establish them as Air National Guard units.

“The 178th Fighter Squadron was assigned the lineage of the 392nd Fighter Squadron. The 392nd was a distinguished unit in WWII … In a single day, the squadron destroyed five convoys and about 100 tanks in occupied France during WWII. The leading ace of the 367th Fighter Group, Capt. Larry (Scrappy) Blumer from Kindred, N.D., became known as the "Fastest Ace in a Day,” when, as a member of the 367th FG (393rd FS), he shot down five German fighters (FW I90's) in 15 minutes on Aug. 25, 1944.”

In addition to the AFOUA, the Happy Hooligans have also earned the Hughes Trophy (awarded to the best Air Defense unit in the U.S. Air Force) twice, and won William Tell, a worldwide fighter competition, on several occasions, the first time in 1970, then again in 1974, 1986 and 1994.

“William Tell is the nickname for the USAF Air-to-Air Weapons Meet held bi-annually,”Lipp said. “It includes the USAF major commands along with some allied countries like Canada, with the winnersometimes called the ’best fighter unit on earth.’”

The North Dakota Air National Guard was awarded its first Air Force Outstanding Unit Award in 1970, and the Hooligans’ continued standard of excellence has kept the AFOUAs coming ever since.

When asked what’s next for the Happy Hooligans, Lipp held no doubts.

“Number 18,” he said.

ND National Guard unit recognized with top award

RECENTLY IN

Recently in: