Named For Gus Grissom, Who Gave His Life For Americas Space Effort. Grissom Air Force Base Is Properly In Indiana, Eight Miles South Of Peru, For Lt. Col. Virgil I. Gus Grissom Was An Indiana Native Second American Astronaut To Make Space Flight 100-Mission Veteran Of Korea Selected As One Of Seven Original NASA Astronauts After Postwar Service As Air Force Test Pilot. Colonel Grissom Died In The Apollo Capsule Fire At Cape Kennedy In 1967 With Astronauts Edward H. White And Roger B. Chaffee. Grissom AFB Is A Base Of Strategic Air Command. Until Renamed In 1968 It Was Bunker Hill Air Force Base.