Airmen prepare Operation Christmas Drop bundles at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, Dec. 10, 2025. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam — Airmen from the United States and Canada prepared dozens of colorful supply bundles Wednesday at the home of the Air Force’s 36th Wing as part of the Defense Department’s longest running humanitarian-aid mission.
Service members and civilian volunteers decorated 270 bundles on Monday with images of Christmas trees, Santas, sleighs, elves and other holiday symbols before they were parachuted to Pacific islanders this week as part of Operation Christmas Drop.
The bundles typically contain essentials like food, water, medical supplies, fishing gear and clothing but some toys, too.
Now in its 74th year, the annual mission began during the 1952 Christmas season, when the crew of a B-29 Superfortress flying near Guam spotted islanders waving from below and dropped supplies as an act of goodwill.
The mission drops provisions each year for 56,000 people across 59 islands, according to a Monday news release from the 374th Airlift Wing of Yokota Air Base, Japan.
To kick off the mission that day officials loaded a bundle into a C-130J Super Hercules aircraft assigned to the 36th Airlift Squadron, also from Yokota.
U.S. airlifter crews will fly Christmas Drop sorties until Friday alongside planes from Canada, Japan and South Korea, wing spokeswoman 2nd Lt. Macaiah Honable said by email Wednesday.
Seven aircraft from the four nations are delivering bundles with a total weight of 82,000 pounds to the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Honable said.
“Operation Christmas Drop delivers more than just supplies,” Aren Palik, vice president of the Federated States of Micronesia, said in the wing’s release. “It delivers hope, connection and the reassurance that even across a vast ocean, we remain part of one family. It is an accomplishment that speaks to the steadfast commitment of the United States and its Pacific partners to care for our people and our communities.”
Airmen can’t truly grasp the impact of the mission until they see families waving and jumping up down in excitement as planes fly by, 374th Airlift Wing commander Col. Richard McElhaney said in the release.
“While this is an amazing humanitarian mission, it’s also an invaluable training event for participating air crews,” he said. “This training and the work we do here matters and translates to our readiness.”
Decorated Operation Christmas Drop bundles are staged inside a hangar at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, Dec. 10, 2025. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
Airmen dropping the supplies conduct valuable low-level flight, precision-airdrop and logistical coordination training, skills that strengthen the ability to execute rapid global airlift missions across the Indo-Pacific, according to the release.
“The people of the Federated States of Micronesia extend our deepest gratitude,” Palik said in the release. “Beyond the food, tools, fishing gear, school supplies and gifts, you deliver something far more valuable: the spirit of compassion that defines this Christmas season.”
