The planes will be auctioned off in a gala event June 15.
A group of veterans met recently at Chicopee Savings Bank to check out their service time portraits painted on the C-5 model that will be featured in the Memorial Day parade on Monday. John Arthur, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam points to his portrait. CHICOPEE – Richard Viens says he served as a “Jeep jockey” for the U.S. Army in Germany at the tail end of World War II in 1945 and 1946.
Zygmunt Watchta served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War from 1951 to 1953.
And, John Arthur served in the Army as a medical supply officer in Vietnam from 1965 through 1967.
Portraits of the three men from their time in the military are among those that adorn one of the fiberglass models of a C-5 Galaxy jet which are being launched this Memorial Day as part of a fund-raiser for a new senior center here.
The aircraft for which Chicopee has most recently gained fame in its aeronautic and military history is taking center stage in the “Planes Over Chicopee” fund-raiser. It’s modeled after similar fund-raising efforts in cities and towns across the country in which fiberglass creations, from bears in Easthampton to terriers in West Springfield, are used as art, placed on public display and then auctioned to raise money for community causes.
Three of the 21 C-5s in “Planes Over Chicopee” will be highlighted in this year’s Memorial Day parade on Monday. They’ll be placed on a flatbed truck and ride the parade route in between military units, bands and other marching groups.
The planes are part of the Friends of the Chicopee Senior Center fund-raiser. Area artists designed and painted the models, which have a 7-foot wingspan. Sponsors adopted them for display about two months ago, and the models will be auctioned off in a gala affair on June 15 at the Knights of Columbus on Memorial Drive.
“It is appropriate for the Memorial Day parade (to include some of the planes),” said Sandra Lapollo, executive director of the Council on Aging. The featured planes “recognize people who served our country so it seemed like a natural fit,” she said.
Harvey Lafleur, a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1946 stands above his painting on a model C-5 Galaxy jet. One of the most popular is “In Your Honor,” which features paintings of about 35 veterans, including Arthur, Viens and Watchta, on the wings and body of the model.
The other featured planes will be “Cold War Guardians” and “Freedom Isn’t Free,” Lapollo said.
Arthur is also among the veterans who will join in the parade with the aircraft models.
Arthur served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam with an Army evacuation hospital from 1965 to 1967. His main job was in medical supplies but also did a variety of other things including guard duty.
“It is an honor to be on one of the planes,” Arthur said.
Jennifer Dorgan, the artist who painted “In Your Honor,” said she wanted to focus on Chicopee veterans and first received about five photographs from the Senior Center. When she started running out of time to receive more photographs upon which to base her work, she reached beyond the city.
“People were throwing me pictures left and right of those who served in Vietnam, World War II and Korea,” she said.
Her plane is painted blue and black for the soldiers, and there are poppies honoring veterans’ organizations’ tradition of distributing poppies on Memorial Day in fund-raising efforts.
“I thought this is for the senior center, and there had to be plenty of vets there because it is a military town,” she said. “It is the perfect way to honor the seniors.”