It came by police escort, not air.
The 1966 U.S. Army Huey helicopter retired at Lynch Field has been there since the mid-1990s, a product of the vision of late Greensburg Fire Chief Edward Hutchinson. He and fellow firefighter Lou Battistella picked it up in September 1995 in Washington, Pa. from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.
“Hutch wanted something there to honor veterans,” Battistella said, referring to Hutchinson, who died in 2018.
The helicopter’s military green paint and long propeller stands as a memorial for Vietnam War veterans.
In 1995, Battistella borrowed a lowboy trailer from the general contracting business where he works, Adam Eidemiller, Inc., and headed west with Hutchinson and a state police escort.
“That thing was flight ready the day I picked it up,” said Battistella, who is an assistant fire chief and commander of the department’s bloodhound team.
The propeller was removed for the trip on Interstate 70 back to Greensburg. Battistella remembered listening to the CB radio during the drive.
“You can’t believe the comments that were on the air,” he said laughing.
The helicopter, a UH-1 Iroquois that does not have a motor, is mounted on a concrete pad along the park’s walking track. It was signed over to the Center for Military history upon retirement and then donated, according to Tribune-Review archives.
There was eventually a ceremony and plaque erected by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 33 in Greensburg honoring the nearly 6,000 military helicopter pilots and crew who died in the Vietnam War. The fire department didn’t have anything to do with a refurbishing project 15 years later, Battistella said. Several projects over the years by volunteers and groups improved the display.
Richard “Wilkie” Wilkinson, a Vietnam War veteran, enlisted the help of friends and fellow veterans to complete the work that was finished in an Eagle Scout project after Wilkinson’s death. It was dedicated in 2013. The display has a flagpole, small walkway, lighting and shrubs.
Greensburg Alliance Church, Greensburg VFW Post 33 and Amvets Post 88 were involved in the memorial, according to plaques at the site.
