Published October 23. 2016 8:58PM | Updated October 23. 2016 10:23PM
By Martha Shanahan Day staff writer
[email protected] martha_shan
Veteran Paul Boyer of Norwich, a member of the Norwich VFW Post #594, is reflected in the unveiled memorial bench, during a dedication ceremony honoring two World War II U.S. Navy pilots killed in a training collision over Norwich and Preston on Oct. 19, 1944. The Norwich Area Veterans Council organized fundraising for the memorial bench, honoring the two pilots, and unveiled the permanent memorial just outside the Preston Public Library. Inscribed on the memorial bench are Ensign George R. Krause, U.S.N.R. of Wauwatosa, Wis.,, on right, and Ensign Merle H. Longnecker, U.S.N.R. of New Rockford, N.D., not in photo. (Tim Martin/The Day)
Preston — Just over 72 years ago and only a few miles west of the Preston Public Library, George Kraus and Merle Longnecker were putting their lives in danger.
The two World War II Navy pilots were far from home — Kraus was from Wauwatosa, Wis., and Longnecker was from New Rockford, N.D.
On Oct. 19, 1944, the two men were flying above Norwich and Preston on a training exercise in “Hellcat” Grumman F6F-5N fighter planes. Based at the Charlestown, R.I., Naval Auxiliary Air Field, they were practicing mock attacks on each other all night, using small radar screens to chase each other in a totally dark night sky.
“There was no moon, no stars,” John Waggoner, a member of the Norwich Area Veterans Council, said Sunday. “All they had was the radar screen.”
Waggoner was outside the library Sunday to oversee the culmination of more than a year of fundraising for a memorial bench honoring the two men, who died that night when their planes collided, sending debris over a miles-wide radius in the woods behind the former Norwich Hospital.
Some of wreckage is still in the woods, at the top of a steep hill on property that now belongs to the town of Preston. The site is documented in a detailed 2006 archaeological report published by the state Historic Preservation Office, but is hard to access and gets visitors only about once a year when members of the Veteran’s Council hike there to lay a new wreath to memorialize Kraus and Longnecker’s sacrifice.
So last year, Waggoner and other members of the council launched a fundraiser to pay for a more accessible way to mourn them.
Veteran’s Council chaplain Bob Murphy said the group wanted to bring attention to non-combat deaths, which don’t always get as much recognition as members of the military who die at war.
“We look at every vet as a vet,” he said. “You don’t choose where you serve or how you serve.”
Kraus and Longnecker deserve the same memorial to their service as the men who died overseas in WWII, Waggoner said.
“A life given for this country is a life given for this country,” he said.
The group raised more than $3,500 to commission a memorial granite bench at the library’s garden that now sits beside a memorial to Preston residents who died serving during the Vietnam War.
Kraus and Longnecker’s faces and a fighter plane are engraved into the bench, along with an inscription describing the crash.
"These two dedicated Naval Reserve pilots ... collided with each other over Norwich and crashed in Preston on the former Norwich State Hospital while on night maneuvers," it reads. "Lord guard and guide the men who fly."
A gravesite for each man sits in their hometowns, Waggoner said, but now local history buffs and veterans have somewhere to visit.
At Sunday’s ceremony, Wagonner read letters from the two men’s surviving family members, who were not able to attend the ceremony but sent their thanks. Preston resident and author Richard Vittorioso, who wrote a biography of the two pilots, said the men’s families have been touched by the council’s dedication to preserving the story.
“They were forgotten,” he said. “It means something to them.”
By Martha Shanahan Day staff writer
[email protected] martha_shan
Veteran Paul Boyer of Norwich, a member of the Norwich VFW Post #594, is reflected in the unveiled memorial bench, during a dedication ceremony honoring two World War II U.S. Navy pilots killed in a training collision over Norwich and Preston on Oct. 19, 1944. The Norwich Area Veterans Council organized fundraising for the memorial bench, honoring the two pilots, and unveiled the permanent memorial just outside the Preston Public Library. Inscribed on the memorial bench are Ensign George R. Krause, U.S.N.R. of Wauwatosa, Wis.,, on right, and Ensign Merle H. Longnecker, U.S.N.R. of New Rockford, N.D., not in photo. (Tim Martin/The Day)
Preston — Just over 72 years ago and only a few miles west of the Preston Public Library, George Kraus and Merle Longnecker were putting their lives in danger.
The two World War II Navy pilots were far from home — Kraus was from Wauwatosa, Wis., and Longnecker was from New Rockford, N.D.
On Oct. 19, 1944, the two men were flying above Norwich and Preston on a training exercise in “Hellcat” Grumman F6F-5N fighter planes. Based at the Charlestown, R.I., Naval Auxiliary Air Field, they were practicing mock attacks on each other all night, using small radar screens to chase each other in a totally dark night sky.
“There was no moon, no stars,” John Waggoner, a member of the Norwich Area Veterans Council, said Sunday. “All they had was the radar screen.”
Waggoner was outside the library Sunday to oversee the culmination of more than a year of fundraising for a memorial bench honoring the two men, who died that night when their planes collided, sending debris over a miles-wide radius in the woods behind the former Norwich Hospital.
Some of wreckage is still in the woods, at the top of a steep hill on property that now belongs to the town of Preston. The site is documented in a detailed 2006 archaeological report published by the state Historic Preservation Office, but is hard to access and gets visitors only about once a year when members of the Veteran’s Council hike there to lay a new wreath to memorialize Kraus and Longnecker’s sacrifice.
So last year, Waggoner and other members of the council launched a fundraiser to pay for a more accessible way to mourn them.
Veteran’s Council chaplain Bob Murphy said the group wanted to bring attention to non-combat deaths, which don’t always get as much recognition as members of the military who die at war.
“We look at every vet as a vet,” he said. “You don’t choose where you serve or how you serve.”
Kraus and Longnecker deserve the same memorial to their service as the men who died overseas in WWII, Waggoner said.
“A life given for this country is a life given for this country,” he said.
The group raised more than $3,500 to commission a memorial granite bench at the library’s garden that now sits beside a memorial to Preston residents who died serving during the Vietnam War.
Kraus and Longnecker’s faces and a fighter plane are engraved into the bench, along with an inscription describing the crash.
"These two dedicated Naval Reserve pilots ... collided with each other over Norwich and crashed in Preston on the former Norwich State Hospital while on night maneuvers," it reads. "Lord guard and guide the men who fly."
A gravesite for each man sits in their hometowns, Waggoner said, but now local history buffs and veterans have somewhere to visit.
At Sunday’s ceremony, Wagonner read letters from the two men’s surviving family members, who were not able to attend the ceremony but sent their thanks. Preston resident and author Richard Vittorioso, who wrote a biography of the two pilots, said the men’s families have been touched by the council’s dedication to preserving the story.
“They were forgotten,” he said. “It means something to them.”
Published October 23. 2016 8:58PM | Updated October 23. 2016 10:23PM
By Martha Shanahan Day staff writer
[email protected] martha_shan
Veteran Paul Boyer of Norwich, a member of the Norwich VFW Post #594, is reflected in the unveiled memorial bench, during a dedication ceremony honoring two World War II U.S. Navy pilots killed in a training collision over Norwich and Preston on Oct. 19, 1944. The Norwich Area Veterans Council organized fundraising for the memorial bench, honoring the two pilots, and unveiled the permanent memorial just outside the Preston Public Library. Inscribed on the memorial bench are Ensign George R. Krause, U.S.N.R. of Wauwatosa, Wis.,, on right, and Ensign Merle H. Longnecker, U.S.N.R. of New Rockford, N.D., not in photo. (Tim Martin/The Day)
Preston — Just over 72 years ago and only a few miles west of the Preston Public Library, George Kraus and Merle Longnecker were putting their lives in danger.
The two World War II Navy pilots were far from home — Kraus was from Wauwatosa, Wis., and Longnecker was from New Rockford, N.D.
On Oct. 19, 1944, the two men were flying above Norwich and Preston on a training exercise in “Hellcat” Grumman F6F-5N fighter planes. Based at the Charlestown, R.I., Naval Auxiliary Air Field, they were practicing mock attacks on each other all night, using small radar screens to chase each other in a totally dark night sky.
“There was no moon, no stars,” John Waggoner, a member of the Norwich Area Veterans Council, said Sunday. “All they had was the radar screen.”
Waggoner was outside the library Sunday to oversee the culmination of more than a year of fundraising for a memorial bench honoring the two men, who died that night when their planes collided, sending debris over a miles-wide radius in the woods behind the former Norwich Hospital.
Some of wreckage is still in the woods, at the top of a steep hill on property that now belongs to the town of Preston. The site is documented in a detailed 2006 archaeological report published by the state Historic Preservation Office, but is hard to access and gets visitors only about once a year when members of the Veteran’s Council hike there to lay a new wreath to memorialize Kraus and Longnecker’s sacrifice.
So last year, Waggoner and other members of the council launched a fundraiser to pay for a more accessible way to mourn them.
Veteran’s Council chaplain Bob Murphy said the group wanted to bring attention to non-combat deaths, which don’t always get as much recognition as members of the military who die at war.
“We look at every vet as a vet,” he said. “You don’t choose where you serve or how you serve.”
Kraus and Longnecker deserve the same memorial to their service as the men who died overseas in WWII, Waggoner said.
“A life given for this country is a life given for this country,” he said.
The group raised more than $3,500 to commission a memorial granite bench at the library’s garden that now sits beside a memorial to Preston residents who died serving during the Vietnam War.
Kraus and Longnecker’s faces and a fighter plane are engraved into the bench, along with an inscription describing the crash.
"These two dedicated Naval Reserve pilots ... collided with each other over Norwich and crashed in Preston on the former Norwich State Hospital while on night maneuvers," it reads. "Lord guard and guide the men who fly."
A gravesite for each man sits in their hometowns, Waggoner said, but now local history buffs and veterans have somewhere to visit.
At Sunday’s ceremony, Wagonner read letters from the two men’s surviving family members, who were not able to attend the ceremony but sent their thanks. Preston resident and author Richard Vittorioso, who wrote a biography of the two pilots, said the men’s families have been touched by the council’s dedication to preserving the story.
“They were forgotten,” he said. “It means something to them.”
By Martha Shanahan Day staff writer
[email protected] martha_shan
Veteran Paul Boyer of Norwich, a member of the Norwich VFW Post #594, is reflected in the unveiled memorial bench, during a dedication ceremony honoring two World War II U.S. Navy pilots killed in a training collision over Norwich and Preston on Oct. 19, 1944. The Norwich Area Veterans Council organized fundraising for the memorial bench, honoring the two pilots, and unveiled the permanent memorial just outside the Preston Public Library. Inscribed on the memorial bench are Ensign George R. Krause, U.S.N.R. of Wauwatosa, Wis.,, on right, and Ensign Merle H. Longnecker, U.S.N.R. of New Rockford, N.D., not in photo. (Tim Martin/The Day)
Preston — Just over 72 years ago and only a few miles west of the Preston Public Library, George Kraus and Merle Longnecker were putting their lives in danger.
The two World War II Navy pilots were far from home — Kraus was from Wauwatosa, Wis., and Longnecker was from New Rockford, N.D.
On Oct. 19, 1944, the two men were flying above Norwich and Preston on a training exercise in “Hellcat” Grumman F6F-5N fighter planes. Based at the Charlestown, R.I., Naval Auxiliary Air Field, they were practicing mock attacks on each other all night, using small radar screens to chase each other in a totally dark night sky.
“There was no moon, no stars,” John Waggoner, a member of the Norwich Area Veterans Council, said Sunday. “All they had was the radar screen.”
Waggoner was outside the library Sunday to oversee the culmination of more than a year of fundraising for a memorial bench honoring the two men, who died that night when their planes collided, sending debris over a miles-wide radius in the woods behind the former Norwich Hospital.
Some of wreckage is still in the woods, at the top of a steep hill on property that now belongs to the town of Preston. The site is documented in a detailed 2006 archaeological report published by the state Historic Preservation Office, but is hard to access and gets visitors only about once a year when members of the Veteran’s Council hike there to lay a new wreath to memorialize Kraus and Longnecker’s sacrifice.
So last year, Waggoner and other members of the council launched a fundraiser to pay for a more accessible way to mourn them.
Veteran’s Council chaplain Bob Murphy said the group wanted to bring attention to non-combat deaths, which don’t always get as much recognition as members of the military who die at war.
“We look at every vet as a vet,” he said. “You don’t choose where you serve or how you serve.”
Kraus and Longnecker deserve the same memorial to their service as the men who died overseas in WWII, Waggoner said.
“A life given for this country is a life given for this country,” he said.
The group raised more than $3,500 to commission a memorial granite bench at the library’s garden that now sits beside a memorial to Preston residents who died serving during the Vietnam War.
Kraus and Longnecker’s faces and a fighter plane are engraved into the bench, along with an inscription describing the crash.
"These two dedicated Naval Reserve pilots ... collided with each other over Norwich and crashed in Preston on the former Norwich State Hospital while on night maneuvers," it reads. "Lord guard and guide the men who fly."
A gravesite for each man sits in their hometowns, Waggoner said, but now local history buffs and veterans have somewhere to visit.
At Sunday’s ceremony, Wagonner read letters from the two men’s surviving family members, who were not able to attend the ceremony but sent their thanks. Preston resident and author Richard Vittorioso, who wrote a biography of the two pilots, said the men’s families have been touched by the council’s dedication to preserving the story.
“They were forgotten,” he said. “It means something to them.”
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