Military memories

For years the Indiana Military Vehicle Preservation Association held its annual show in Anderson. During the last decade its been in Crawfordsville.
Meanwhile, Portland’s Museum of the Soldier has held a smaller October show each year in conjunction with a chicken dinner fundraiser.
Now, the two shows will come together.
IMVPA and Museum of the Soldier will team to host this year’s Military Vehicle Show and Swap Meet from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Jay County Fairgrounds.
Jim Waechter, a Museum of the Soldier Board member and a charter member of the IMVPA’s northern Indiana chapter, has been instrumental in bringing the show to Portland. His interest in the vehicles comes from his time serving in Vietnam, where he followed in his father’s footsteps as a member of an engineering unit.
“Like tractors or antique cars, maintaining something that you used or you grew up around, it’s preserving a piece of history,” said Waechter, whose father served in North Africa and Italy during WWII. “There’s just some kind of a mystique about being able to drive an Army jeep. …
“If you served in the military, there’s a certain attachment.”
The annual event to show off those vehicles had been held in Crawfordsville because of proximity to Ropkey Armor Museum.
But when Fred Ropkey, who incorporated the museum with his son Rick in 1982, died last year, his wife, Lani, decided running the festival was too big of a task to take on. So the IMVPA board started looking.
Fort Harrison in Lawrence was one possibility. Camp Atterbury, near Edinburgh, was another.
But the board settled on Jay County Fairgrounds, in part because of its success in hosting the Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Show.
“Portland is well known for the tractor show in August,” said IMVPA president Rick Miller. “People are familiar with it.
“Ohio is a strong military vehicle state as far as having clubs over there. We felt like we could get a good draw from Ohio.”
Admission to the show is $5 per person or $10 per carload, and those with an active military ID card will be admitted for free. A GI breakfast will be served both days of the show.
Waechter is hoping for a turnout of 50 or more vehicles. There will also be military re-enactors from a variety of eras.
“I think we’re going to have a large turnout of vehicles from a multi-state area,” said Waechter, noting that he’d like to see the show stay in Jay County for years to come. “I know that just within a 30-mile radius of here we’ll probably have 20 or more. Vehicles are going to show up that I wasn’t even aware people had around here.”
A vehicle expected to be one of the biggest attractions this weekend is a 1944 Marine LVT (landing vehicle tracked).
The LVTs held a crew of 10 along with 33 soldiers and were used for launching vehicles off ships. The vehicles would hit the water and then drive directly onto land, and were used heavily in the Pacific Theater during World War II.
In many cases, the vehicles were left behind in the Pacific, Waechter said, and because they’re expensive to restore only a handful still exist. Only two are operational, including the vehicle, owned by Tom Price of Bowling Green, Ohio, that will be on display at the fairgrounds.
The vehicle was used in the movie “Flags of Our Fathers”.
“It’s quite an awesome piece of machinery to see,” Waechter said. “There just aren’t many around anymore.”
Other vehicles will include a variety of jeeps and trucks from different eras of military history.
Several WWII halftracks — armored vehicles with wheels on the front for steering and continuous tank-style tracks on the back — are also expected to be on display.
And organizers are hoping to have a World War I fire truck from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Their goal is to help strengthen interest in military history and pass it on to coming generations, whether they have direct ties or not.
Miller, unlike Waechter and most of the IMVPA board members, didn’t serve in the military. He got involved with the organization to honor his father, a Korean War veteran.
He hopes the show will help others develop an interest as well.
“Our main goal is to preserve military history,” Miller said. “The only way that we feel like that we can make that available or to show it’s important is to get out there in the eye of the public. The rallies are the easiest way for us to do that.
“It’s hard to get everybody in a group. This is our big thing for the year.”