One of three surviving members of his 10-man flight crew in World War II, Vincent “Bill” Purple has made keeping the memories of “the good war” alive for everyone his mission.
Purple joined the war young — his mother had to sign papers to allow him to join the Air Force a year early at age 17.
Now 92, Purple’s office in the L.P. Athol Corp. building, which he owns, is a small museum.
A mannequin wears his uniform in the hall just outside his office, near a silk survival map of the European theater liberally marked with his bombing targets from 35 missions.
His walls are decorated with photos and paintings of the airplanes he piloted.
“If you didn’t get hurt, it’s the greatest experience anybody could ever have,” he said of the war.
Purple is active in reunions and air shows, and this weekend he will be participating in World War II Weekend at Orange Municipal Airport off East River Street in Orange.
Jets of junk-food-scented flame from flamethrowers shooting a biofuel blend will light up an abandoned airfield.
The event runs Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with a battle re-enactment planned for 2 p.m. on both days.
People will see and hear working tanks, guns and mortars along the disused airstrip and grounds behind the airport.
A strip no longer used will be transformed into a microcosm of 1940s warfare, with encampments of Axis and Allied re-enactors, a mock battle and vintage and replica military equipment, including a German Stuka dive bomber and the German Tiger tank from Tom Hanks’ death scene in the film “Saving Private Ryan.” And, those flamethrowers, albeit with a safer, friendlier-smelling alternative to napalm.
“When people see the flame throwers going off, they’ll feel a little bit of heat, they’ll see the red ball of fire, but they’re also going to smell either doughnuts or french-fries, depending on where we get our fry oil,” explained weekend organizer Dan Eaton.
The event is designed to entertain, but also to revive the sights and sounds that were seen only by a now dwindling number of people.
Eaton, who lives in Athol, said one of the reasons for holding the event is to include those people who had firsthand experience — before they’re all gone.
“We are going to have World War II vets out at the show, and we’re going to set them up in a VIP tent,” Eaton said. “And we’re going to have time set aside where people can go interact with them — hear their stories — because you can read it in a book or you can watch it on TV, but when you actually sit face to face with them and talk and hear their stories, it’s a pretty good thing.”
Eaton said he got a lot of help in the form of artifacts and opened doors from Purple, who staged two air shows in Orange in 2013 and 2014 with the Collings Foundation.
Purple has always supported historical re-enactments of the war.
“It makes it public — it’s history, it’s the greatest thing that kept our country alive, and you’ll know something if you go there, other than that you’d have no visibility,” Purple said.
Visibility is a word the former pilot is fond of. He rattles off the names of airplanes he brought back for the air show: the B-17, B-24, P-51.
“These are all things that mean nothing to you because you have no visibility,” he concludes.
In aviation, visibility is the distance you can see based on the light, fog, smoke, and other conditions.
With the American soldiers who experienced World War II directly, now dying at a rate of 430 per day, according to Veterans Administration statistics, visibility is fading fast for this period of history.
Of the 16 million Americans who served in the war, the National World War II Museum projects none will be left in 20 years.
Eaton, a firefighter and entrepreneur in the events business with his wife (New England Gun Events), is a history buff.
Eaton said he comes from a family of history buffs and he and his re-enactor friend David Kerr decided to start the World War II weekend event after visiting other re-enactments and deciding they could make a few improvements.
He wants to grow the business into a nonprofit with hopes of establishing a museum or living history venue.
“The North Quabbin is my home area,” Easton said. “ I live in Athol, I want to make this a living history destination. Not only for this event but for other events.”
The partners turned down another venue in eastern Massachusetts to hold the re-enactment on the Orange Airport land.
The area and New England, in general, are rich with living history enthusiasts, Eaton said, and over 150 re-enactors are scheduled to participate this weekend.
Organizers have gotten ahold of old audio equipment to lend an extra layer of scratchy authenticity to Drew Paton’s act.
Paton performs regularly as a 1940s radio announcer, singing songs of the war years, interspersed with advertisements for extinct brands of toothpaste and shaving cream.
He performs monthly at The Rendezvous bar in Turners Falls, but this weekend he’ll be up in the control tower organizers are building for him and for the pyrotechnicians simulating mortar fire and such.
Material will stream in from The Smithsonian — about a million dollars’ worth of equipment from The Collings Foundation in Stowe and other private groups. One of those groups is sending the movie star Tiger tank, a replica, which will be joined by a restored antique Hetzer tank destroyer and the iconic American Sherman and Stuart tanks.
And more flamethrowers.
They’ve even gotten ahold of flamethrower attachments for tanks and plan a “dueling flamethrower tanks” demo — without actually torching the expensive tanks, of course. They did run over a flaming bunker with a tank last year, though.
The event can be found online at: wwiiweekend.com
Information will include a schedule of events, vehicle lists and ticket prices.
The event runs Saturday and Sunday, May 21 and 22, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with battle re-enactments at 2 p.m. both days.
The main event can be reached via an access road off South Main Street, at 645 S. Main St., Orange.
Advanced tickets(online sales end Friday, May 20) are $15 for adults and $12 for children, seniors and active military personnel. The can be purchased at: WWIIWeekend.com
Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for children, seniors and active military members at the door.