Naval Reserve Air Base Peru, as the base was named when commissioned, was built to train United States Navy, United States Marine Corps and United States Coast Guard pilots. The base would go through several names just during WWII. On 1 January 1943, the name was changed to Naval Air Station Peru (NAS Peru), and only three months later on 1 March 1943, the name changed again, this time to Naval Air Station Bunker Hill (NAS Bunker Hill), which it kept for the rest of the war.