Veterans Home residents treated to trip down memory lane

To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of V-E Day (or Victory in Europe Day), members of the Merrimack Valley Military Vehicle Collectors (mvmvc.org), Steve and Jeanne Keith of Pembroke and Jim and Deb Miller of Concord, drove their antique military vehicles to the New Hampshire Veterans Home (NHVH) in Tilton. Home residents enjoyed the modest parade to recognize the formal acceptance of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender of its armed forces by the Allies of World War II. The Keiths drove their 1943 GMC, WWI US Army truck, model CCKW 2.5 ton cargo deuce and a half, hauling Jeanne’s 1942 Ford Jeep, also from WWII. The Millers followed in their 1971 Ford M151A2 Military Jeep from Vietnam.

Many NHVH residents watched from their windows as a few sat at the Home’s entrances to enjoy the vehicles as they circled the Home’s campus. From the Main Entrance, they travelled down past the pond, around the Life Enhancement Dementia Units, up to the Tarr and Welch wings, and back down to Winter Street to complete the circle. James Garlets, NH Veterans Home resident, was outside with resident neighbors. James drove Army medic vehicles in Baumholder, Germany during the Cold War. Seeing the deuce and a half brought back memories of learning to drive these vehicles on the back roads of foreign lands, learning to prepare for road trips.