Picture Tolland: A Resident's 'Hair-Raising Experience' In WWII

TOLLAND, CT — The latest installment of the Picture Tolland series takes us to the World War II collection and a recent display at the Vernon Historical Society.

Pictured at the far left is Capt. Leon J. Churches, a Tolland resident who graduated from Rockville High School in Vernon. He served 35 months in the Pacific Theater as a supplier officer.

The Vernon Historical Society archives tell us his unit ran into trouble, which Chorches described in correspondence as including a time stranded in New Caledonia, where he had an "unusual and hair-raising experience" as a captive of a tribe of bushmen.

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Picture Tolland is a periodic series featuring images of the town, past and present.