Vietnam 50th Celebration in Connecticut, 8,000 Remember

Governor, Veterans Celebrate Vietnam 50th Commemorative Weekend 
Hartford Courant
Kristin Stoller
July 11, 2015

"When you actually got into combat, it was pretty simple," Guenon said. "It wasn't about support or not support, it was about supporting your friends." Vietnam veteran Bill Guenon

Vietnam 50th Celebration Brad Horrigan / Hartford Courant The look inside a C-130 H Hercules cargo aircraft at Connecticut's Vietnam 50th Celebration held at the Connecticut Air National Guard base Saturday.

EAST GRANBY — Vietnam War veteran Edward Mechenbier spent six years as a prisoner of war, and later he went back twice to visit the place he was held captive.

A golf shop was there on the site where one of his cells once stood, he recalled.

"Being a prisoner of war is not a volunteer assignment," Mechenbier said. "We were just the lucky ones who happened to get captured as opposed to killed."

About 8,000 people are expected to visit during each day of the two day event, according to Major Jefferson Heiland, of the 103rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs Division of the Connecticut Air National Guard.
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