WWII veterans revisit historic aircraft during Wings of Freedom Tour
Women’s Army Corps veteran Evelyn Richardson, 96, of Columbia Falls is pictured in front of the Consolidated B-24J Liberator on Friday. The bomber, and numerous other WWII aircraft, stopped at Glacier Park International Airport as part of the Wings of Freedom Tour. (Mackenzie Reiss/Daily Inter Lake)
Ret. Maj. Gen. Neil Van Sickle, the oldest living West Point graduate, enjoys the Wings of Freedom bombers with his friend Jeff Wirth of Whitefish, on Friday in Kalispell. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)
Women’s Army Corps veteran Evelyn Richardson, 96, of Columbia Falls tours a B-24J Liberator with Bonnie Savage, a staff member at the Montana Veterans Home, during the Wings of Freedom Tour on Friday, July 5. (Mackenzie Reiss/Daily Inter Lake)
Women’s Army Corps veteran Evelyn Richardson, 96, of Columbia Falls points out the gas tank on a B-24J Liberator to Bonnie Savage, a staff member at the Montana Veterans Home, during the Wings of Freedom Tour. (Mackenzie Reiss/Daily Inter Lake)
Ret. Major General Neil Van Sickle is pictured during his military days. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Air Force)
Ret. Maj. Gen. Neil Van Sickle, the oldest living West Point graduate, looks up from the hangar at the Wings of Freedom bombers on Friday morning, July 5, in Kalispell. Van Sickle flew the B-17s and the B-24s during World War II.(Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)
Ret. Maj. Gen. Neil Van Sickle, the oldest living West Point graduate, enjoys the Wings of Freedom bombers with his friend Jeff Wirth of Whitefish, on Friday morning, July 5, in Kalispell.(Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)
Bonnie Savage wheels 96-year-old Evelyn Richardson beneath the massive wing of a B-24 bomber late Friday morning.
“Do you remember where the gas tank is?” Savage asked.
Richardson is a World War II veteran who served with the Women’s Army Corps attached to the U.S. Air Force. The Columbia Falls resident spent her military career building gas tanks for a variety of bombers and also helped service and park planes.
Without an ounce of hesitation, Richardson raised an arm.
“Right there,” she said, pointing to the wing. “It was a long time ago — 75 years.”
Richardson was among a small number of WWII veterans who attended the Wings of Freedom Tour at Glacier Park International Airport this week. The fleet of historic aircraft stopped for a two-day showcase Thursday and Friday. Wings of Freedom travels across the country, bringing WWII history alive with vintage aircraft tours and even flight experiences in select planes.
For many of the veterans who flew or worked alongside these aircraft, seeing them again, even decades later, brought back a flood of memories.
“First, I started with servicing the airplanes, climbing up and down the wings. B 24, 25, 17. I even got on the B-29,” Richardson recalled. “I was thrilled to be in there in the first place. I think being out on the ramp where all the planes came in was the best part of it.”
She also built gas tanks for a time, before she was told the job was “too much for a woman.” Her duties were then diverted to helping park and service the aircraft. Richardson enjoyed being around the planes, especially never having been inside of one before joining the service. But some days were certainly more challenging than others.
“One time I went out to service a plane and I got the hose from the front,” she said. “I reached back to the rear tank and the hose got away from me. The hose drenched me [with gasoline]”
There were also times of great excitement.
“A squadron of fighter planes came in one night,” she recalled, “and we had to service them in a half hour because they were on patrol.”
Retired Major Gen. Neil Van Sickle, 103, very well could have been among them — the highly decorated Air Force veteran logged over 7,000 hours flying during World War II.
“You can’t look at one of the airplanes without getting memories of flying,” Van Sickle said Friday. “My favorite to fly was the B-17 — it was big and roomy.”
Van Sickle enlisted in 1932 and served for more than 30 years before retiring in 1968 as the deputy inspector general at the U.S. Air Force Headquarters. He graduated from West Point in 1938 and quickly rose through the ranks completing flying school.
He flew in 16 combat missions in Japan during WWII and took out at least one Nazi submarine, according to family friend Jeff Wirth. Later in his career, Van Sickle worked in the Pentagon and for the United Nations, earning a slew of commendations, including the Legion of Merit and a Bronze Star Medal.
“He flew all these planes and he’s a major two star general,” Wirth said. “It’s a big part of his life and this will be the last time he ever sees anything like this again.”
Before organizers of the Wings of Freedom Tour opened the event to the pubic, they asked the WWII veterans in attendance to come before the crowd. Fewer than 10 made their way to the front, lined up in the shadow of some of the war’s most iconic aircraft. The crowd needed little prompting before erupting in applause, celebrating and appreciating the living history before them.
Reporter Mackenzie Reiss can be reached at (406) 758-4433 or mreiss@dailyinterlake.com.