The commander of the closest U.S. fighter base to North Korea received a final salute from his troops Tuesday as he relinquished his two-year post during a ceremony at Osan Air Base.

Air Force Col. Joshua Wood transferred command of the 51st Fighter Wing to Col. William McKibban and departed for Georgia, where he will retire from military service to become a commercial pilot, wing spokeswoman 1st Lt. Michelle Chang told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday.

Osan is about 25 miles from Seoul and 55 miles from the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South Korea. The base is also headquarters for the U.S. 7th Air Force and Space Forces Korea, as well as South Korea’s Air Force Operations Command.

Osan is home to squadrons of A-10C Thunderbolt II attack aircraft and F-15C/D Eagle tactical fighters. The base provides “combat ready forces for close air support, air strike control, forward air control-airborne, combat search and rescue, counter air and fire and interdiction,” according to its website.

Wood thanked the roughly 5,500 service members and Defense Department employees formerly under his stewardship and said they all played a key role on the Korean Peninsula.

"Don’t ever forget that your job here matters, no matter where you are and what you do,” Wood said in a speech to about 300 people at Osan’s weapons-load training hangar, according to a video recording from the wing. “Your physical presence deters North Korean aggression.”

On June 1, Wood and his wife, Bonnie, were made honorary citizens of Pyeongtaek city by Mayor Jung Jang-seon.

The two were recognized for orchestrating volunteer events and for making “active efforts to develop the relationship between [U.S. Forces Korea] and Pyeongtaek city,” Jung’s spokesman told Stars and Stripes by phone on June 13.

Since 2003, 48 of the 95 people honored with the appreciative gesture were U.S. service members, according to the spokesman. South Korean officials regularly speak to the media on the customary condition of anonymity.

McKibban was previously the 52nd Fighter Wing’s vice commander at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany.

McKibban in his remarks said he was honored to be selected for the position and echoed Wood’s remarks about the importance of the wing.

“This fighter wing remains essential to regional peace and stability, and we recommit our energies today and are focused [on] all that that requires,” he said. “More importantly, thank you for being here in [South Korea] during these dynamic and dangerous times for this theater and for our world.”