WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — If you're familiar with the phrase 'Every Day in Middle Georgia is Armed Forces Appreciation Day' or EDIMGIAFAD, you have the late Dr. Dan Callahan to thank.
Callahan originally created the phrase to be Air Force-specific in 1968 before updating it to apply to all Armed Forces in 2004.
Now, he's being honored posthumously with the 2021 Senator Sam Nunn Community Leadership Award. It's an award given every year to someone in the area whose actions go above and beyond in support of Robins and the Air Force.
Callahan's son, Dr. Daniel Callahan, accepted the award on his father's behalf.
Nunn sent in a video messaging, saying, "The spirit of appreciation that came from this expression really caught on and was prescribed by Dr. Callahan and became contagious. It helped to build a trusted relationship, which exists to this day with Robins Air Force Base and the community."
Meanwhile, Robins AFB is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year with several events running until Sept. 2022.
Before housing roaring jets and massive hangars, a dairy farm sat on the land that now makes up Robins Air Force Base.
"On the Aug. 14, 1941, they tore down all the barbed wire fences and they came in and started laying out the land," said base historian, Bill Head.
He says Robins started as a temporary military site. It was a small depot surrounded almost completely by farmland. The base even pre-dates the Air Force, which wasn't created until September 1947.
Editor's note: Video in this story is from a Boomtown segment on the creation of the acronym and history of the base.