Submitted by Kathleen Amoia
(April 18, 2025) — Killingworth Vietnam Veterans Bruce Campbell and Fred Voorhees will participate in the May 3, 2025 “Honor Flight Connecticut” to Washington D.C. They will arrive in the nation’s capital with fellow veterans for a day of recognition and visits to our national war memorials.
Established in 2019, “Honor Flight Connecticut” joined 126 hubs in 45 states. Their mission is one of honoring, recognizing and celebrating veterans for their service. Eligible for the flights are veterans from World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Chartered flights are organized at no cost for the veterans, and guardians are provided for those in need of assistance. (For more information, or to download an application, visit honorflightct.org.)
Army Veteran Bruce Campbell served from 1968 through 1972. He was sent to Fort Dix, New Jersey for training as a private, but was quickly promoted to Captain as a JAG Officer. Campbell had been a recent graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law.
Glad he served, Campbell finds satisfaction to this day knowing he provided legal counsel for young privates when they most needed it. His own experience as a private, however brief, gave him a better understanding of what they could be up against. Campbell also feels that time in Vietnam and R&R trips to Taiwan and one to Hawaii to meet his wife, Marilyn, gave him a broader understanding of the world.
After leaving the service, Campbell began practicing law in New Haven, Madison and Killingworth. He and Marilyn eventually bought her childhood home on Green Hill Road from her parents. The house was built in 1919, and the Campbells have kept its Georgian style Colonial Revival charm inside and out. They enjoy the birds of Killingworth that come to their feeders and the deer who graze on their lawn. Campbell is looking forward to his Flight of Honor trip, if not the 5:30 a.m. arrival time at Bradley Airport. The return trip will get the honorees back to Windsor Locks at 11:00 p.m. after a full day of activities.
Kenneth Fred Voorhees served in the United States Navy from 1965 until his retirement in 1985. He began his career during the Vietnam War and served on several naval vessels during his twenty years of service.
His first deployment was on the USS Boxer (LPH-4) joining its mission to transport Army personnel from Mayport, Florida to South Vietnam, along with helicopters and Mohawk fixed-wing aircraft. His next assignment was the USS Yosemite (AD-19) a Dixie-class destroyer/tender built during World War II. Voorhees’s following assignment was four years shore duty in Naples, Italy. Other assignments in a varied career included service on the USS Caloosahatchee, a fleet oiler, and the USS Papago, an Abnaki-class fleet ocean tug, from which Voorhees retired. At sea, Voorhees served as a deck seaman and a diesel mechanic.
Born in South Dakota far from any ocean, Voorhees spent years living in Norfolk, Virginia after retiring from the Navy. He worked for several companies in the Norfolk area including Fairbanks Morris and BAE Shipyard. It was in Virginia that Voorhees met his wife, Lynn. They found their way to Killingworth to be closer to family. Voorhees will be traveling with a buddy of his, Russ Ripley, and is looking forward to catching up and enjoying the activities. Both he and Campbell found the application for the “Honor Flight Connecticut” on its website. Voorhees cautioned that veterans often must apply more than once before being accepted for the chartered flights.
Campbell and Voorhees attend the monthly Veterans Coffee House gatherings at the Killingworth Library. The gatherings are hosted by Richard Mason, Killingworth’s Veterans Representative. Mason was appointed to the position in 2023 by then-First Selectwoman Nancy Gorski. Connecticut law requires towns to appoint a Veterans Representative and Mason stepped up. A veteran himself, he served in the United States Air Force between 1968 and 1972 and was stationed in Vietnam at Tan Son Nhut Air Base. He hopes to meet more of Killingworth’s veterans as word of the Coffee House gets around. Helping fellow veterans has become a mission for Mason, a way of continuing to serve.
At the Coffee House meetings, Mason regularly provides Killingworth veterans with information about VA services and offers help they might need in navigating red tape. He also brings in speakers with relevant information. The veterans themselves exchange information based on their own experiences with the VA on a variety of issues. In addition to the two-hour Coffee House sessions at the library, Mason is available by appointment and can be contacted at veterans@townofkillingworth.com. Mason urges all veterans to keep their DD214 available and to register with the VA and the Killingworth Town Clerk’s office.
Photos by Kathleen Amoia
