Veteran Community Corner

11/08/2022 - At the Tolland Veterans Recognition Commission Coffee House

Join your fellow veterans to hear Carl Stidsen speak at our November 8th Coffee House about his Titan II mission while on active duty in the USAF. Carl hopes his talk today will generate interest for the Veterans History Talk on Nov. 12. You will view his PowerPoint presentation on Saturday, November 12th at 11 AM at the Tolland Jail on the Titan II Missile Program and afterward enjoy a free lunch at the Military Museum located behind the Jail in Tolland.

Carl Stidsen from Tolland (Major, USAF, Ret.) will give a free talk on Saturday, Nov. 12, on the Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program called “Life in a Cold War ICBM Site: On the Nuclear Bullseye.” The talk will be at the Old Tolland County Jail and Museum at 52 Tolland Green, co-sponsored by the Tolland Historical Society and the Tolland Veterans Recognition Commission. A light lunch will follow the talk at the Tolland Military Museum, which is behind the jail and accessible from Route 74. Admission, parking, and lunch are all free.

During the Vietnam War, Stidsen served as a missile combat crew commander at a Titan II site in Arizona, logging over 8,000 hours underground during more than 380 nuclear alert tours, each lasting 24 hours. The weapon his crew controlled had a hydrogen bomb equal to nine megatons of dynamite, yet – at age 24 – he was the oldest member of the four-person team. Titan II was the last and largest liquid-fuel ICBM the U.S. ever fielded.

Stidsen is the research librarian at the New England Air Museum, has been a pilot for 56 years, and has been a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association for 52 years.

Honoring Those Who Served,

For further information contact

Perne Maynard

Cell #: 860-993-7931

Email: perne43@gmail.com