It has been over a decade since the Air National Guard base in Roslyn was closed and eventually turned into the 50-acre plus Park at East Hills.

But the base has not been forgotten by at least one local resident. Jan Klebukowski, a native of Glen Cove and a 22-year veteran of the New York Air National Guard has authored The History of Roslyn Air National Guard Station, New York, a book that tells the definite story of the base itself.

Klebukowski's book has not yet found a publisher. However, bound copies of the manuscript have made their way to several libraries, including the Bryant Library in Roslyn and the Glen Cove Public Library. While performing his National Guard duties, Klebukowski found time to research and write the 228- page book on a base that he claims was an important mainstay of the nation's East Coast defense system.

"My reason for writing this book was very simple," Klebukowski told The Roslyn News. "After President Clinton officially announced that Roslyn was being put on the BRAC listing of bases to close, I was very surprised to find that the base did not have a solid history of itself, besides the history of the Mackay Estate, and a small paragraph that had some military history of the station. Ironically President Clinton made that official announcement on March 17, 1995, which happen to be my birthday.

"Anyway, I started to dig for historical information, both on the internet, in many libraries, including the Roslyn Library, and even took a personal trip to the Library of Congress in Washington DC to look for any historical information on Roslyn," he continued. "I did manage to dig up a lot of general information, but it wasn't until I met one of the original members of the first unit that was stationed there, Mrs. Jenny Taylor, who belonged to the 26th Air Division at Roslyn that I managed to get all the unit information."

Klebukowski noted that Mrs. Taylor kept a "very detailed" record of all the members of the unit that were there, including their names, and many historical documents which she kept even after the station closed as an active duty station. "She shared her information with me, which I included in my book," he said.

"After all that research, I spent over 13 years sorting through all my findings, and putting together my book," Klebukowski added. "As I discovered more and more information, I kept adding it to my book."

A graduate of Glen Cove High School, Klebukowski originally joined the U.S. Air Force in 1985. After completing basic training, he went through technical training to become an aircraft maintenance technician for the F-111A Fighter/Bomber Aircraft, and was stationed at Mountain Home AFB, ID. After three years of serving at Mountain Home, he decided to join the New York Air National Guard, and was stationed at Roslyn Air National Guard Station as a Ground Radio Technician working on UHF, HF, TACAN and other transmission and receiving equipment.

Klebukowski later received a full time Air National Guard job as a training manager, in which his responsibilities were to ensure all Airmen were qualified in their career fields as they progressed through their training.

After the Roslyn base closed, he was transferred to Gabreski Air National Guard Base, located in Westhampton Beach, NY. He served at Gabreski until his retirement in September 2007. In addition to researching and writing the book, Klebukowski has been lobbying for some official commemoration for the base, including a plaque at its old site. He discussed that project recently with Village of East Hills officials, who, he said, have expressed interest in the idea. Klebukowski would also like to commemorate the base in honor of his friend, Staff Sergeant Andrew Brunn, a former Roslyn Air National Guard Station member who perished on Sept. 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center.

In addition to libraries in Roslyn and Glen Cove, a copy of the book can be found at the following local institutions: The New York City Public Library, the Hofstra University Long Island Studies Section, and the Cradle of Aviation Museum at Mitchell Field in Garden City.