‘Lights for Peace’ Flag to honor Capt. MacLean
During the month of November, the 3rd Lights for Peace flag to fly at the Fort Taber–Fort Rodman Military Museum honors the memory of Capt. Edward Vincent MacLean, of Fairhaven.
MacLean served in the United States Army from 1942 to 1957, earning the rank of captain over 15 years of service. MacLean’s greatest military achievement was surviving, at the age of 24, a landing in a 200-foot hedgerow field near Normandy, France, aboard a CG-4A Waco Troop/Cargo Glider during the D-Day Invasion.
The Waco CG-4A was the most widely used American troop/cargo military glider of World War II. According to www.ddaymuseum.co.uk, there were a total of 867 gliders, between the U.S. Army and the Royal Air Force, that took part in the D-Day operations. The gliders carried 13 troops, along with the pilot and co-pilot, and their equipment including Jeeps, weapons, ammunition and personnel.