The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Vietnam-era helicopter comes to it’s final rest
Former members of Laotian Special Guerrilla Unit secure historic aircraft
MIDDLETOWN — About 40 people stood in wonder Friday afternoon, watching a rare spectacle as a 6,000pound Huey helicopter was hoisted into the air by a giant crane onto a pedestal out front of the Greater Middletown Military Museum.
The copter was a gift from former members of the Laotian Special Guerrilla Unit, and the metal base was donated by Retired Gen. Sar Phouthasack, of Windsor, commander of the Laotian veterans group who worked for the CIA’s special Army unit.
Many marched in the city’s Memorial Day parade last month.
It will serve as a memorial, according to Vietnam veteran Ken McClellan, a member of the museum board since its formation. Early on, veterans started collecting books, records, diaries, uniforms and other items to one day preserve in a museum, he has said.
Some humidity hung in the 88degree air, a harbinger of the heat wave to come, as a light breeze swept across the park, rustling the reeds nearby at the Connecticut Trees of Honor. Those gathered stood under a grove of trees in the shade as birds chirped nearby.
Two dozen individuals, including a Buddhist monk clothed in a muted gold robe, a prisoner of war imprisoned by the North Vietnamese for a decade. He traveled from his temple in Rhode Island for the unveiling, McClellan said.
Helicopter mechanics from the guard transported the retired rotocraft.
“It’s been sitting in a hangar as a mechanics training area,” he added.
installation was overseen by Army Reserve ambassador Lewis P. Vasquez, and Chris Holden,
deputy director of public works. Veteran Ron Winter volunteered during the operation.
Ron Organek, who was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1968 and served with the 14th Armored Calvary in
Germany, arrived at the idea of a museum 16 years ago in 2002. It’s been a longtime labor of love getting the facility and its precious artifacts together. He was elated. “Fantastic, absolutely fantastic. I’m excited, wired because it’s happening right now,” Organek said as he watched the progress.
The copter was originally going to Bristol, but that didn’t work out, he said. “In less than a year, we got it all set up,” Organik said.
When finished, the memorial will include flags, a fence and steps that ascend to the viewing area.
Most of the Laotians are part a large community in Windsor and have adopted Middletown as their second home, McClellan said.
From the beginning of the Vietnam War, the CIA and Surrogate Warfare Special Forces of the United States recruited, trained, supervised and paid Lao/ Hmong soldiers to fight the North Vietnamese Army in Laos and the Ho Chi Minh trail for the benefit of the U.S. Armed Forces, accordThe
ing to Phouthasack, who watched the progress.
Thousands of these soldiers escaped the communist control of Laos and found themselves in refugee camps in Thailand. From there, many immigrated to America and became citizens, according to Phouthasack. Many thousands of them were captured and sent to POW camps, where conditions were deplorable, he said.
Many died in imprisonment.
The museum broke ground a year ago. What work remains is for the displays to be set up. Soon, a trove of memorabilia — letters, uniforms, books, weapons and other relics of Middletown-area soldiers who served in war — will be housed. The museum is expected to open in late summer.
It sits next to the Connecticut Trees of Honor, at the Walnut Grove Road park, where the 65 soldiers from the state who lost their lives in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11 attacks are
commemorated — each with a tree and granite plaque.
Laotians, city workers, veterans, technicians and others gathered to watch the helicopter moved to its pedestal, which was donated by the general.
As several mechanics slowly guided the aircraft by cables onto its platform, a number of people stood by, videotaping the event with their phone cameras until it came to a rest on the lawn next to the museum.
The army purchased the 50-year-old helicopter, which has flown 2,345 hours, in 1968. It took three hits in battle from gunlaunched, nonexplosive ballistic projectiles and was hit in the cockpit, according to the general.
A good portion of museum board members served in Vietnam. “[The Laotian and American soldiers] saved a lot of lives over there. They were going behind the scenes, creating havoc on the Ho Chi Mahn Trail,” Winter said, adding, “These were those freedom fighters.”
The general’s girlfriend was 13 when she joined the resistance, he said. She fought until she was 19 and was captured and held for nine years.
“She can tell you right to the day,” Winter said.
“I was there at the same time flying a Marine helicopter, so [Phouthasack] and I immediately clicked. The fact that they’re putting this together and they’re doing this is so gratifying,” Winter said.
He’ll soon publish his fourth book on the last major Marine battle in the Dewey Canyon.
Mission accomplished, those gathered slowly made their way to their vehicles, anticipating the monument’s — and museum’s — completion.
For information, visit gmvmm.com. Donations are being taken to help with the museum at middlesexcountycf.org.