Southington Resident Chosen as 2016 Connectiut Veterans Day Parade Marshal

SOUTHINGTON, CT — Retired Lt. Col. Walter Hushak of Southington has been chosen to be a marshal at the 2016 Connecticut Veterans Day Parade.

The Parade is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 6 at 12:30 p.m. along Trinity, Pearl and Main streets. See the attached map.

Here is a biography from the parade organizers:

Walter J. Hushak, a lifelong resident of Southington, is a veteran of the U.S. Army Air Corps and U.S. Air Force Reserve who proudly marches in uniform every year at the annual Connecticut Veterans Parade. A member of our nation’s “greatest generation”, Hushak served almost 30 years in the military. He always wanted to fly, so he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942 and a year of flight training. Army Capt. Hushak served on active duty in World War II from 1944 to 1946 as a pilot of a B-24 Liberator bomber in the 7th Air Force Saipan, Mariana Islands in the Central Pacific. His service included missions during the battles at Iwo Jima, Pagan, and Marcus Island.

After the war, Hushak returned to Southington and worked for many years in personnel at the Peck,Stow & Wilcox Co. manufacturing company in Southington. He served in the Air Force Reserve for 27 years, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1972.

Hushak has been a member of Army-Air Force Round Table of Cheshire for more than 20 years.For two decades, he also has helped to coordinate the annual Wings of Freedom Tour at Waterbury-Oxford Airport, a display of vintage World War II aircraft. Today, 93-year-old Hushak works out at a gym three times a week, and continues to preserve the history of WWII by going into classrooms and speaking to school students of all ages.

He says that he would not trade military duty for anything in the world. “It gave me another dimension in my life and my thinking,” he says. “Am I better man? No. But having to make serious decisions, you just come out a different person.”

Photo Credit: Veterans Day Parade