Base Museum Salutes El Toro’s Role in County History

Wednesday was V-J Day, marking the end of America’s war in the Pacific 51 years ago, so I went out to the Historical Center and Command Museum at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station to take a look at some of our history of that era.

The museum headquarters is housed in what was a squadron aviation building when El Toro opened in 1943. But its pictures and artifacts are only a small part of what the museum and center offer.

It also includes a warehouse and hangar, plus spacious grounds, where nearly two dozen fighter planes, helicopters and other machines of war are on display. Nothing brings war to mind more than standing within touching distance of an anti-aircraft gun.

The future of El Toro remains uncertain after it closes near the end of this century. But exploring its past through the museum is a worthwhile trip.

It was a delight to run into Harry Terrell of Newport Beach, who was enjoying the day there with two longtime friends. One of the planes on display was a B-25 bomber. Terrell had flown a B-25 during World War II.

Terrell was at Okinawa on Aug. 14, 1945, when he learned the war had ended.

“Remember it like it was yesterday,” Terrell said. “I’d flown 88 successful missions and I was ready to go home. But I swore I’d walk the streets of Tokyo in my buddy’s combat boots. [He’d been killed in the war.] I did it, too.”

Terrell was assigned to fly to Japan on a mission shortly after the war. “I buzzed the emperor’s palace. Never got caught, either.”

Terrell has visited the museum several times, and is a huge supporter. “I told some friends I was going to spend the day at the El Toro museum and their reaction was: What museum? People just don’t know it’s here. Yet there are people living all over Orange County who actually flew on some of these planes. They’d love coming back here.”

The museum has only been open since 1991. But from the first day, John “Smiley” Hilburn and Roger “Champ” Ciampa have been there to lead tours of visitors. If you go, I hope you get to meet them. They are two of the museum’s treasures. Both flew combat missions during World War II, and both had tours of duty at El Toro before they retired.

“I like giving the tours because this base has so much history to offer, and so many know so little about World War II,” said Hilburn, 73. “The high school kids are the best. They are really interested. The little kids, well, they like the planes, and you just try what you can to get them to understand the history.”

Ciampa, 75, led me through the museum’s entry hall. The magnificent color artwork of various fighter planes reflected his own history.

“I flew the night fighter there, and the Wildcat over there,” he told me. “Then the Corsair down at the end, that was some great plane.”

Ciampa certainly remembers V-J Day. He was about to head on his first Corsair mission to Japan. “I’d gone to a movie the night before, and they interrupted the movie to tell us the war was over.”

I enjoyed watching the two men work a large group of youngsters from Wood Canyon Elementary School in Aliso Viejo. The main fascination for these youngsters, of course, was the planes. But Hilburn and Ciampa squeezed in a little war history too.

Ciampa says he looks forward to every tour: “For a few minutes, I’m young again.”

You Can Help: The museum will live on in another location after the base closes. So it’s important to all of us to help it grow, if possible. The Marines are asking your help in collecting any scrapbooks, squadron histories, uniforms, magazines or books--anything that might help reflect the base’s history. You can call the El Toro Historical Foundation at (714) 559-6795.

Terrell brought in his own donation, a couple of scraps of metal with an interesting history. In 1942, a Navy plane went down off Orange County’s coast. For months, people were finding pieces of that plane. And now, 54 years later, Terrell amazingly found two more pieces, which had taken their time washing up to shore. He knew enough about planes to explain to me what part of the plane each piece had come from.

“There’s a lot of history about this place that people just don’t know about,” he said.

The War of the Prisoner: The museum includes pictures of nearly every type of plane or helicopter the Marines ever flew. There’s one case reserved for artifacts from the war in the Persian Gulf: A Chinese-manufactured rifle captured from an Iraqi soldier, plus literature provided to enemy soldiers on how to surrender: “If you do this, you will not die.”

The most poignant display for me was donated by former Marine Maj. Paul Joseph Montague, whose chopper was shot down March 29, 1968, in Vietnam. He remained a prisoner of war until March 14, 1973. The display includes the POW clothes he was allowed to wear, the shaving kit and soap his captors provided, and the military clothes he wore the day he flew home after his release. There’s a picture of the helicopter he flew, plus a picture of Montague observing the display. I doubt anyone could look at those things without shuddering at the pain he must have endured.

Getting There: The museum is open free to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (or, as the literature says, to 1600 hours.) You can get there by taking either the San Diego or Santa Ana freeways to Sand Canyon Road. Then, turn south on Trabuco Road, just north of I-5. You will be met by a guard at the gate entrance in less than a mile.

Wrap-Up: It’s not that difficult to get on the Marine base to see the museum. But you need fair warning what it requires. You must present your driver’s license, your up-to-date vehicle registration, and your up-to-date proof of your vehicle’s insurance.

I got turned away the first time I went. I had called ahead and was told I’d need my driver’s license and car registration. When I got there, I had those, but didn’t have a proof of insurance card. I had one with me, but it had expired three weeks before. I was under the impression--a mistaken one--that you were no longer required to carry proof of insurance, so I’d carelessly failed to clip out the new one sent me. Wrong move.

It was not a pleasant experience. Not so much because I got turned away and it was a wasted drive down there, but because the Marine who summarily dismissed me was so cold about it, as if she didn’t have time to waste on people as stupid as me. (Whatever happened to just plain good manners in dealing with the public?)

But as long as you have those three proper credentials, and tell them why you want to be there, you can get on the base any time during the museum’s operating hours.

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling The Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax at (714) 966-7711 or by e-mail at jerry.hicks@latimes.com.