It’s always Veterans Day at Col. Millar’s museum (video)

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Retired Col. Charles Millar at the Vietnam Aviation Veterans of Arizona museum.

With persistent dissention and rapid dissemination of information in the world today, it’s sometimes hard to maintain perspective of the past and the lessons it provides.

See inside Col. Millar’s museum in the video below (after a word from Ace Hardware)

The historian Arthur M. Schlesinger said, “Science and technology revolutionize our lives, but memory, tradition and myth frame our response.”

Wars change the world. From World War I and II to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the world has seen some of most awe-inspiring advancements in technology. Of those, the most monumental achievements would arguably be that of aviation.

In Maricopa (and Arizona), there is a proud and complex military history that personifies this relationship of technology and military history. Some citizens and veterans have taken up the mantle as amateur historians trying to teach the world about these milestones.

Retired U.S. Army Col. Charles Millar is one such historian who is hoping to illuminate the role aircraft played in sculpting modern history while promoting the memory of the men and women who serve and have served in the U.S. armed forces.

Millar established and oversees the Vietnam Aviation Veterans of Arizona museum at his airfield on McDavid Road just west of the city limits. His hangars house relics of aviation from the Vietnam War all the way back to World War I.

“One of my friends came up with the idea that we ought to develop some type of museum to honor Vietnam veterans, because some of them didn’t get the recognition they should,” Millar said. “It kind of grew into a multiservice and multi-era museum, so we honor all services and all service members.”

Millar’s efforts are aimed at keeping the history books open and people reading. He, like many of his generation, fear that by not being part of the Internet age, the efforts of his comrades and colleagues will be lost unless there are places like his museum to catalogue and preserve the stories.

“The intent is just to pass along historical information to the public, and we’re doing the aviation side of it,” Millar said.

The museum often hosts fly-in events that Millar coordinates. Sometimes 40 to 50 aircraft will stop by, ranging in style from vintage bi-wing crop-dusters and trainers to experimental kit aircraft and Korean War era helicopters. Pilots from all over the Valley fly in to mingle and eat a hearty breakfast or lunch. Parents from as far away as Casa Grande and Chandler bring their children out to watch the fly-bys and explore the hangars that house the museum.

Millar moved to the Phoenix area from Southern California in the late 1960s with the military on his mind. He wanted to go to college to become an officer and soon found himself at Arizona State University studying military science. After graduating in 1971 he obtained his commission and began working with and training tank operators.

Millar didn’t operate a single aircraft while in the service; however, from an early age he dreamt of earning his wings. Upon exiting the army Millar got his pilot’s license and started flying small aircraft as a hobby. Some years later Millar moved back to the Phoenix area and, after becoming involved in several aviation organizations, found a piece of affordable land near Maricopa that was right for his airfield.

Millar wanted to find a place that was just far enough away from civilization to be comfortable but still close enough to not be an inconvenience. He settled in and bought the land near Maricopa in 1985. He slowly pieced together his airfield and later his museum. Now he hosts several fly-ins a year for pilots and veterans from all over the state, including one Oct. 15.

In the dusty, late-morning air veterans from the Army and Air Force congregated around tables in one of the hangars and shared stories about their time in the service. Kids climbed in and around some of the antique vehicles and aircraft. All the while the steady sound of propellers chopping the air buzzed across the runway as aircraft came and went, leaping and dancing around the clear blue sky.

A volunteer said Millar once told him that if “at the end of the week if (Millar) has money left in his checking account then there is something wrong.”

That day Millar and his volunteers consistently turned down offers of donations and “tips,” a remarkable characteristic that undeniably is responsible for the vast group of loyal pilots, veterans and friends who fall in order and line up wingtip to wingtip hoping to fly with Col. Charles Millar. It is with his help the history of the armed forces and those that served will be memorialized.

Vietnam Aviation Veterans of Arizona is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

602-571-1059


This story appears in the November issue of InMaricopa.