‘Winged Victory' honors vets at air museum
WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. — Under billowing skies and the occasional roar of a plane from Bradley International Airport, hundreds of visitors sat in World War II-era planes and honored local veterans as part of the New England Air Museum's 'Winged Victory' event on Saturday.
The event, named for Connecticut's own 43rd Infantry Division 169th Regiment, was staffed with re-enactors of the 169th Regiment who wore military-green uniforms, brandished WWII-era weapons, and set up an outdoor field camp packed with period water tanks and food rations. Some members of the group are descended from soldiers who fought in the unit, including Doug Crawford, 58, whose father, Charles B. Crawford, was a technician in F Company. The 169th regiment fought in multiple campaigns during World War II, including Guadalcanal.
Sisters Emma and Amanda Loefflad of Tolland, Connecticut, wore vintage clothing and custom dresses to portray citizens during the war. 'It's a very different world now and people dress so differently,' Emma said. 'You put a lot of effort into wearing this every day.'
At noon, the museum held a short memorial to honor all fallen soldiers.
'We gather here not to glorify war but to honor the sacrifice of those who gave their last full measure of devotion in the cause of freedom,' Crawford said in his opening remarks.
Crawford has been participating in military reenactments for over twenty years, he said, and his son, Mason, 23, of Tolland, Connecticut, has taken after him as a way to honor his grandfather, Charles, who passed away in 2014.
'It's kind of a way to connect with him now that he's not here and to show people what he went through,' Mason said. 'These were kids going into war.'
Affixed to his uniform was a poppy pin, a symbol of remembrance taken from John McCrae's poem, 'In Flanders Fields,' which was recited during the museum's memorial ceremony.
The museum also hosted Robert Garabedian, 100, of Tolland, Connecticut, who served in the Army Air Corps during WWII and flew P-40 and P-47 fighter jets. He sat at a table in front of a 1945 Republican P-47 D Thunderbolt and told visitors his story. Garabedian trained in New Mexico and overseas, and had been scheduled to participate in the invasion of Japan as a fighter pilot. Those plans were scrapped after the United States dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and effectively ended the war.
Garabedian called it 'an honor' to attend the ceremony and pay tribute to fellow soldiers and those who built the planes he flew. But he also considered the futility of war in general.
'War is a terrible way to settle disputes,' he said. Garabedian has 12 children and a total of 71 grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren, and wants them to live in a 'peaceful world.'
'We have to share with others,' Garabedian said. 'We have to give them a chance. We have to listen with respect to what their problems are and, instead of adding to them, try to help solve them.'
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