Community Corner

Extending a Heroes Welcome to WWII Veterans

The American Warrior project brings veterans to see their memorial in Washington DC and welcomes them home in style Saturday at Bradley International Airport.

Over the past six years the American Warrior project has flown hundreds of World War II veterans to Washington DC to visit their memorial.

According to Christopher Coutu, who founded the group, the organization's mission is to transport as many local veterans as possible to their memorial and afford them the chance to visit the national place that honors their contributions to society and the world.

Sadly, the memorial was completed in 2004, a time when more than 80 percent of the estimated 16 million WWII veterans had already passed on.

"It's our final opportunity to show our thanks with more then a handshake," Coutu wrote in a recent blog on the Montville Patch.

Today's trip to Washington DC from Bradley International Airport might be one of the final homecomings in America for 100 WWII Veterans, Coutu said.

If you want to join in on the celebration and welcome the veterans home, you can be apart of the event tonight, along with members of the Governors Foot Guard, East Granby Marque Fife and Drum and the Glamour Girls, tonight at the U.S. Air Terminal at Bradley. The veterans' plane is expected to land at 8 p.m.


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