BANGOR — Whether the veteran received one of the first World War II Walking Sticks in 1999 or didn’t pick one up until this year, staff and volunteers at Cole Land Transportation Museum want to recognize that person along with other WWII vets during a special ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the war at 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 15, at the museum.
World War II veterans who bring a walking stick to the public ceremony at 405 Perry Road will have special streamers attached to it as part of the Spirit of ‘45 commemoration to be held worldwide Friday through Sunday, Aug. 14-16.
Featured speakers at the Cole Museum program will include retired Col. Clifford “Bruz” West, 94, a Bangor High graduate living in Winthrop. West served in the Marines in battles at Peleliu and Okinawa in the Pacific.
Also speaking will be museum founder Galen Cole, a Purple Heart veteran of World War II who served in the 5th Armored Division in Europe. Cole founded the Walking Stick Program, which has given more than 9,400 walking sticks to Maine veterans of four wars since 1999.
Walking sticks are available to Maine veterans of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Global War on Terror who come to the museum with ID and proof of military service from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Nov. 11.
The Aug. 15 program also will feature a patriotic concert by the Bangor Band, one of the oldest community bands in the country.
Cole Museum, home of the Maine World War II Memorial, was invited by the Spirit of ‘45 organization to hold the 70th anniversary event for Maine with the theme, “Honor the Legacy of the Greatest Generation.”
Spirit of ‘45 activities, which are listed at.spiritof45.org, range from events scheduled at parks and veterans memorials to U.S. Navy ships and museums throughout the United States and beyond. Sites of wreathlaying cemeteries include Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten and the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
While Germany had surrendered to end the war in Europe in May, Japan did not sign the surrender until Sept. 2, which is V-J Day in the United States. But Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender on Aug. 15 after the Allies agreed that Japan could keep its emperor.
U.S. Air Force pilots Paul Tibbetts and Charles Sweeney had flown planes dropping the atomic bomb on Aug. 6 on Hiroshima and Aug. 9 on Nagasaki. Had the Japanese not surrendered, Allies expected to proceed with an invasion of the mainland involving 1 million troops in the Pacific.
For information on Cole Land Transportation Museum, call 990-3600, ext. 13, or go to colemuseum.org.