Arlington’s National Medal of Honor Museum welcomed its largest artifact at an event Thursday night.
A fully restored Vietnam-era Huey helicopter will be a centerpiece of the future museum’s 31,000-square-foot exhibition gallery when it opens in March in the city‘s entertainment district.
Veterans gathered at the site Thursday for a celebration of the Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter’s arrival. Retired Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady said the balmy evening reminded him of his time in Vietnam. He earned the Medal of Honor for actions while flying the iconic chopper.
“I can [still] fly that thing,” Brady joked during a “fireside chat” with CBS 11’s Jason Allen. “You know, it’s like riding a bicycle, but nobody will ride with me.”
Brady received the Medal of Honor in 1969 for piloting a mission that rescued 51 men from enemy territory.
The occasion was significant, too, for John Tabor, who served as a medic with the 9th Infantry Division, piloting the same kind of helicopter.
“I think it’s the greatest thing in the world for young people to see the equipment we had back then,” Tabor said. “Every soldier that got on a medevac aircraft, 95 percent of them survived.”
The helicopter had a long journey to Arlington.
First, Chuck Carlock acquired it from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
“We loaded it in the snow, had to have a big crane out there to take the rotor head off because it was too tall and the trailer…
