EAST HAMPTON >> About 25 members of the Greatest Generation were treated like royalty Saturday afternoon at Pierre and Margaret McCutcheon Faber’s Middle Haddam home for the sixth annual Victory Over Japan Day picnic.
These World War II veterans, some traveling from as far away in Connecticut as Waterford and Stratford, and one even 100 miles from Vernon, Vermont, were the VIP guests, honored for their service to the country at the couple’s house on Schoolhouse Lane.
V-J Day is marked Aug. 15, the day the Empire of Japan announced it was surrendering to the United States and its allies in 1945, effectively ending WWII.
This is the sixth year the Fabers have held the picnic, Margaret McCutcheon Faber said.
Pierre, who was born in South Africa, is a naturalized citizen.
“He came up with the idea. He takes it very seriously,” his wife said. “He just loves American history, learned as much as he could, and has a fascination with WWII.”
Members of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars and several other military personnel volunteer their time to help the event’s success, said Faber, who welcomed 15 more people than she had anticipated.
The annual gathering began in 2011. Its inspiration was Don Tedford, a WWII vet who lives in East Hampton, whom the couple met at the YMCA.
“He would tell us stories about his life and we just thought, ‘We have to figure out a way to honor people like him,’” Faber said.
The first year, the couple hosted Tedford and 10 others.
“It was a hurricane that night — I don’t remember which one, and we were gathered in the living room,” she said.
From that year, it just grew and grew and grew, pretty much exponentially, Faber said.
Last year, the event had 123 guests and at least 40 veterans, she said.
And the men, several highly decorated, were truly guests of honor at the home, where colorful flower arrangements are accented with bunting and American flags are placed throughout. Guests sat on the back lawn at the edge of the Connecticut River at tables bedecked in red, white and blue, enjoying a buffet dinner as the sun slowly fell below the horizon in a pink and orange sky.
The minute the gentlemen’s cars pulled up the long driveway, which is flanked by flags, members of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post salute them and open their car door. Five Xavier High School students earning their community service hours valet parked the vehicles, Faber said.
“They give them a badge that has the theater they served in — European or Pacific — and it also has the branch of the military,” she said.
The men then enjoyed cocktails in the backyard.
Roger Heap, 91, of Old Lyme has been attending the event for the past four years.
“I was very impressed with their orderly arrangement. I think they’re very patriotic,” said Heap, who enlisted in his late teens, sometime between the ages of 18 and 20, he said. He served 15 months but never saw action, Heap said.
“I had a pilot’s license before I went in and, of course, with the superior intelligence of the U.S. Army air corps, they wouldn’t let me anywhere near an airplane,” Heap joked. “They put me in aircraft mechanics school and I remember when I got out, I worked on Dodge trucks.”
For Heap, the highlight of the day was when Pierre grabbed a camera and made his way up a tall ladder to capture the moment.
“It was very well-supported and he took a photograph of the entire group,” said Heap, who loved the steak dinner. “It was very nice of them. I know it takes a lot of planning and effort on their part.”
Each gets the star treatment.
“There were a great many volunteers who went around with hors d’oeuvres and helped people with their chairs,” Heap said. “Of course, a lot of us there from WWII get uneasy on our feet.”
Although Tedford missed this past weekend’s event because he is in hospice, Faber said, she and her husband made sure to cheer him up afterward with some leftover brownies and a photograph of the group.
Middletown native and nonagenarian Seb Giacco played lead alto saxophone in the Hartford Jazz Orchestra, some of whom — all veterans — performed during the cocktail hour.
“They’re phenomenal, really professional,” Faber said. “A pretty talented group.”
Xavier High School student Alex Bates played photographer for the day.
Faber does the cooking and the catering and her husband greets the vets with the VFW, and delivers a heartfelt speech just before dinner.
Meanwhile, the veterans keep the bartender busy.
“I have to say these are big drinkers, which is great thing,” said Faber, whose father, Ronald McCutcheon, tended bar. “The first order he got was for a Singapore Sling. So we’ve got a full bar with all the mixers. We got lots of interesting orders like daiquiris — everything.... They’re in high spirits.”
This year, volunteers encouraged the men to move around a couple of times during the course of the night so they could meet a number of different people, she said. “They’ve been here so many years now that they’re starting to recognize each other and look forward to seeing each other,” Faber said.
The vets enjoy a full, sit-down buffet dinner.
“I always serve the same menu because they like it,” Faber said. “We do steak and kielbasa, fresh tomatoes, salad, rolls and three sheet pans of brownies. We put little flags in them and serve them. When it gets dark, there’s a mass exodus.”
Each person leaves with a caregiver. The men are sent off with their photograph from the year before, a CD of WWII music and copy of the Rivereast newspaper, which featured the reunion last year.
She acknowledged the event would never go off its couple dozen volunteers — “most have a father in WWII or have some sort of connection or are just interested in WWII.”
Optometrist Matthew Elgart of Deep River has been instrumental in helping introduce the Fabers to the veterans who return every year — and some new ones, too. “He knows everyone,” Faber said.
The veterans’ appreciation and enjoyment makes all the effort worth it, Faber said.
“It’s wonderful and the most rewarding thing we could do. We just absolutely love doing it. They all say, ‘Why are you doing this?’ To be honest, it’s so fulfilling for us,” Faber said. “We would never think of not doing it. It’s a ton of work, but it is so worth it.”
Every V-J Day is bittersweet for the Fabers.
“It’s sad to think that some of them might not be with us next year, but we’re always hopeful we’ll find a few other vets, and even with dwindling numbers, we’ll just keep having it until there are none,” Faber said.
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