Victory Gala to honor World War II veterans canceled because of coronavirus
The Arsenal of Democracy Victory Gala, originally scheduled for March and then rescheduled for September 24 in Washington, D.C., has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The gala was to feature veterans’ firsthand accounts of World War II as part of the celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the end of the war.
Tuskegee Airman and retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles E. McGee; retired U.S. Air Force Col. Bud Anderson, a World War II triple ace; retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. David Hamilton, the last living D-Day Pathfinder pilot; and Royal Canadian Air Force Flight Sgt. Bob Middleton had been scheduled to discuss perspectives from the European theater.
Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Robert Vaucher, who led more than 500 Boeing B–29 Superfortresses over Tokyo Bay during the signing of the Japanese surrender, was going to share his story along with Connie Palacioz, one of the original “Rosie the Riveters,” who worked on the Boeing B–29 Superfortress; retired U.S. Navy Cmdr. Dean Laird, who shot down German and Japanese airplanes; and retired U.S. Marine Corps. Sgt. Paul Hilliard, who was a radioman and gunner in SBD Dauntless dive bombers.
Vaucher is still set to be the honorary air boss for the Arsenal of Democracy Flyover on September 25, which will take place as scheduled. At 101 years of age, it will be the first large formation he has led since the B–29s over Tokyo on Sept. 2, 1945, while the Japanese were officially surrendering. Anderson has participated in efforts to propel the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum, which seeks to tell the story of the events of December 7, 1941. In 1990, he co-authored a book, To Fly and Fight: Memoirs of a Triple Ace.
The Arsenal of Democracy highlight will be a flyover of the National Mall at 11:30 a.m. on September 25. About 100 aircraft will take part in the mass flyover, broken into 24 formation groups that represent different battles in the war. The aircraft will take off from Culpeper Regional Airport and Manassas Regional Airport/Harry P. Davis Field in northern Virginia and fly along the Potomac River toward the Lincoln Memorial and break off after overflying the World War II Memorial.
On September 26, some of the warbirds that participate in the flyover will be on static display at the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.
