NEW BOSTON — For Dick Gamache and Jean Gregoire, hunting and fishing at the New Boston Air Force Station is one of the perks they've earned by serving their country, but officials have closed the base for recreation while the search continues for unexploded ordnance from the 1940s and 1950s.

“We don't want anyone to explode,” USAF Maj. Cary Belmear said.

Gamache, a retired Army sergeant major from Goffstown, and Gregoire, a retired Army staff sergeant, said the decision to close the base is about discrimination against veterans, not safety.

For years, the base was a popular recreation area open to retired veterans and their families and friends. There were campsites scattered around Joe English Pond, plenty of fish to be caught, and some of the best hunting around, according to Gamache.

In 2006, the base was closed to campers during the munitions cleanup. Then, last May it was announced that those who worked at the Air Force Station could use the base for recreation purposes.

“If you're not part of the good old boys club, you're not getting in,” Gamache said.

Gregoire said: “Telling the people who served their country that they can't use the base, but the civilians who work there can, is a slap in the face. If they had applied this [closure] fairly across the board, we would have nothing to complain about.”

From 1942 through the mid-1950s, a large site around Joe English Pond served as a practice range for bombers flying out of Grenier Field — now known as the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. Many of the bombs dropped on a 1,200-acre area failed to detonate upon impact, and were simply left behind.

The base ceased to serve as a bombing range in 1956 and became a radar tracking station in 1959. Currently, it is one of eight worldwide Air Force Satellite Control Network Tracking Stations.

In 2005, a large-scale effort to clean up the unexploded ordnance was launched.

Folks in New Boston, Mont Vernon and Amherst would occasionally hear bombs going off in the distance as live ordnance — ranging from 20-millimeter rounds to a 2,000-pound bomb — were detonated. More than 80 live bombs or rounds have been found, Belmear said, along with 40 tons of munitions-related debris.

Though most of the base has been cleared of unexploded ordnance, he said, there's still some work left to be done, especially in and around the water. The hope, he said, is to have the base re-opened for light recreation this summer.

“As guys are out hunting, we don't want them to stumble across unexploded ordnance and blow up,” said Belmear. “We want people to be able to come here and hunt, and camp and fish safely.”

But Gamache and Gregoire said they don't believe anyone was ever in danger while using the base for recreation.

“No one has ever been hurt by a bomb on New Boston Tracking Station,” said Gregoire.

Gamache said he doesn't believe the base will be opened to veterans in 2012.

“They're going to keep dragging their feet,” said Gregoire.

However, Belmear said the goal is to get the base open for some forms of recreation for veterans as soon as possible. This summer, he hopes to have folks filling the campsites on base. There may be some restrictions, however, because not all of the sub-surface and underwater cleanup work has been done.

“Folks may be able to camp as long as they don't pound their tent-stakes into the ground,” Belmear said.