GREENFIELD – Darwin Hine says his parents named him after famed naturalist Charles Darwin because he “looked like a little monkey” when he was born on Sept. 22, 1918.
Almost exactly 100 years later, he looked like a proud patriot as the Building Bridges veterans initiative honored him for his life and his service at its weekly sponsored luncheon at the Greenfield Lodge of Elks.
“Not a bit of rust,” Hine says to a friendly face Thursday, holding up his arms as proof.
The Greenfield native was a U.S. Army paratrooper in the South Pacific during World War II, making jumps in New Guinea, the Philippines and Australia. He’s attended the weekly noon luncheons for roughly a year and Building Bridges decided to make him the guest of honor to celebrate the centennial of his birth.
Chad Wright, the associate director of Building Bridges, announced Hine’s presence to the dozens in attendance at 2 Church St. and led the room in a round of applause for the veteran. Hine, who has lived in Leyden for decades, sat in a wheelchair next to his daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Hine, and talked about his service while dining on chicken cordon bleu, salad and carrots.
He recalled serving with his buddy Bucky, who he said saved his life more times than he could count.
“He was quite a guy,” Hine said. “I should have been killed half a dozen times.”
Hine remembers one particular jump when he and Bucky were descending while bullets “were coming pretty close.” The two landed and took cover in what Hine believes was a bomb crater.
“I remember I said, ‘Bucky, they’re trying to kill us,’” Hine recalled, with Bucky replying, “Oh, you noticed?’”
He recalled how during combat missions paratroopers would stand at the door of an airplane thousands of feet in the air and get “a whack on the seat of your britches and out you’d go.”
Many people who lined up for the buffet-style meal stopped to shake Hine’s hand, congratulate him on his 100 birthday and to thank him for his service. Hine often returned salutes to those who approached him.
“He’s had a really exciting life,” said daughter-in-law Elizabeth Hine.
A representative from the Vermont 1 chapter of Rolling Thunder, a nationwide advocacy group that fights for prisoners of war and service members missing in action from American wars, announced his chapter was donating $250 to the Building Bridges, an initiative of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts.
Veterans luncheons at the lodge are held every Thursday at noon. Any local merchant interested in sponsoring a luncheon should contact Wright at 413-834-7153 or chadericwright@gmail.com. A sponsorship covers meals for 85 veterans. The cost is $150.
Reach Domenic Poli at dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.