|
 Vietnam-era
Huey Helicopter takes off for Smithsonian's National Museum of American
History...UH-1H
helicopter to be featured in Museum's '
The Price of Freedom' Exhibition
FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/
-- A Vietnam-era Huey helicopter will take off from the main plant of
Bell Helicopter, a Textron Company, on Feb. 10 on a journey to the
Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
The helicopter, slated to be the central artifact of the Vietnam War
section of the museum's new exhibition, "The Price of
Freedom," will travel to more than 20 sites across the U.S. before
arriving at the museum for a March 19 donation ceremony.
"The Huey, for the many Americans
who served in Vietnam, is the symbol of their service," said museum
director Brent D. Glass. "Now that symbol will bring the experience
of the Vietnam War to life for millions of visitors, allowing them to
have a personal encounter with history."
The Huey 65-10091 was manufactured by
Bell Helicopter in 1965 for the U.S. Army and deployed to Vietnam in
1966. It served with the 173rd Assault Helicopter Company, known as
"The Robin Hoods," and was shot down on January 7, 1967. After
being repaired in the United States, it returned to service until 1995
when it was acquired by the Texas Air Command Museum in Fort Worth for
use in educational programming. The helicopter was leased for use in a
documentary film project in 2002.
The 10 a.m. departure ceremony at the
Bell Helicopter main plant at 600 East Hurst Blvd., Hurst, Texas, will
include a reunion between Silver Star and Purple Heart recipient, Fred
Castleberry, and Dan Chavre, a medic who attended him after his rescue
and airlift on a Huey.
"When we began planning for 'The
Price of Freedom' exhibition, we knew we wanted to tell the whole story
of America's military history," said Dik Daso, exhibition curator
and curator of modern military aircraft at the Smithsonian's National
Air and Space Museum, "and this helicopter not only helps tell the
story of America's involvement in the Vietnam War, it shows it."
After the Texas Air Command Museum
agreed to donate the Huey 091 to the National Museum of American
History, a group of Vietnam veterans and other volunteers, formed the
091 Committee to facilitate the helicopter's transfer. The helicopter's
month-long, cross-country delivery, billed as the Huey's "Final
Journey Home," is an educational endeavor of the 091 Committee.
Through the support of DynCorp, a CSC company, AMR/American Airlines,
U.S. Helicopter, Novogratz Family Foundation, Bell Helicopter and the
Allied Pilots Association, the 091 Committee raised the necessary funds
to take the Huey 091 on a national tour that will end with its landing
at the museum.
"This journey pays tribute to
those who paid the ultimate price in defense of freedom and honors our
country's Vietnam veterans for their valor, courage and selfless
sacrifice," said retired Maj. Gen. Dick Stephenson, chairman of the
091 Committee. "On behalf of all veterans, we are proud to be able
to deliver the Huey 091 to the National Museum of American History for
the education of future generations," he added.
The 18,200-square-foot "Price of
Freedom" exhibition, scheduled to open this Veterans Day, Nov. 11,
will survey the history of America's military from the colonial times to
the present, exploring ways that wars have been defining episodes in
American history. Through hundreds of artifacts and pictures, "The
Price of Freedom" will tell the stories of how Americans have
fought to establish the nation's independence, determine its borders,
shape its values of freedom and opportunity and define its leading role
in world affairs. The Huey helicopter will be the largest single
artifact in the exhibition.
Among the 700 objects in "The
Price of Freedom" will be Andrew Jackson's uniform coat and sword,
Colin Powell's woodland camouflage uniform, the nameplate from the
"Maine," a regimental flag of Civil War black troops, the
surrender furniture from Appomattox Court House, a World War II jeep,
and firearms and swords from all periods of American military history.
The Smithsonian's National Museum of
American History traces American heritage through exhibitions of social,
cultural, scientific and technological history. Collections are
displayed in exhibitions that interpret the American experience from
Colonial times to the present. The museum is located at 14th Street and
Constitution Avenue N.W., and is open daily, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
For more information, visit the museum's Web site at
http://americanhistory.si.edu/
or call (202) 633-1000 or 357-1729 (TTY).
Source: Smithsonian
National Museum of American History |
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