Perrin Air Force Base

Lt. Col. Elmer Perrin, the Texan honored here, was killed flying the new B-26 at Baltimore, and the Army named the Sherman field for him. The Handbook says it was deactivated in November 1946 and reopened in April 1948 as an Air Force base. Training followed the aircraft: jet instruction, survival training for air crews and a pilot instructor school. During the war about 2,500 prospective pilots a year learned the basics there. The Handbook dates the final closing to 1970, when the property was deeded to Grayson County; the plaque says 1971.

What the plaque says

Perrin Air Force Base Plans began in early 1941 for a U. S. Army Air Corps installation to be located in Grayson County. This 1,160-acre site was acquired in June, and Air Corps personnel began arriving in August. The base was to serve as a basic flight training facility. During its construction, the U. S. was drawn into World War II following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7. The first class of flight students, which arrived on December 16, graduated in February 1942 in ceremonies which included the dedication of the base in memory of Lt. Col. Elmer D. Perrin, a Texas test pilot killed in the line of duty in 1941. Pilots trained here served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Their airplanes ranged from basic trainers of the 1940s to jets of the 1960s and 1970s. The presence of the air base became important in the life of Grayson County, creating jobs and boosting the local economy. Following the death in 1961 of Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives, many dignitaries, including the president and vice president, arrived here and were transported by base personnel to the funeral in nearby Fannin County. Partly because of increased air traffic in the area, Perrin Air Force Base was closed in 1971. (1988)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge — 5.5 mi
  A 1946 refuge on the Big Mineral Arm of Lake Texoma, laid over land bought for Denison Dam and the site of the vanished railroad town of Hagerman, now a winter stop for geese.
• Eisenhower State Park — 7.9 mi
  A bluff-top park on Lake Texoma opened in 1958 on land leased from the Corps of Engineers, in the Red River country of Fort Johnson, Colbert's Ferry and the Butterfield stages.
• Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site — 7.9 mi
  The small frame house beside the Katy tracks in Denison where Dwight Eisenhower was born in 1890, bought by townspeople in 1946 and given to Texas in 1958.
• Choctaw Cultural Center — 22 mi
  The Choctaw Nation's history told from the Chahta side at Calera, with galleries from Nanih Waiya to the Trail of Tears and the reservation today, a living village and daily stickball.

More markers nearby

• First Site of City of Sherman — 3.0 mi
• Grayson County Poor Farm — 3.4 mi
• Preston Road/Shawnee Trail — 3.7 mi
• Travis Lodge No. 117, A. F. & A. M. — 4.1 mi