United States Forces Azores Management Command Azores Detachment and the base's resident officer in charge of construction. There are approximately 425 U.S. military and 10 Department of Defense civilians assigned to the group. The total U.S. population, including dependents, is about 2,170. Department of Defense employs approximately 930 Portuguese civilians at Lajes Field. An Air Force colonel serves jointly as U.S. Forces Azores commander and as commander of the 65th Air Base Group, Air Combat Command. United States Forces Azores United States Forces Azores (USAFORAZ) is based at Lajes Field, Portugal near Lajes on Terceira Island in the Azores. In 1953, the U.S. Forces
Flores Island (Azores) sites were named for settlers of this mid-century period, including Santa Cruz, Lajes and Ponta Delgada. The name of the island of Flores has been made familiar to generations of English readers by the quotation: "At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay...", which is the opening line of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's epic poem, "The Revenge, A Ballad of the Fleet". On 9 September 1591, a small English fleet of six ships under Lord Thomas Howard was anchored in the bay of Ribeira da Cruz in Flores, and was surprised by 53 ships under Alfonso de Bazán. The English