The Rowland Freedom Center In Vacaville Honors A Local Hero
I recently heard from my friend Paul Mirich, the General Manager of The Rowland Freedom Center Aviation Museum on the campus of The Nut Tree Airport in Vacaville; Paul wanted me to know about a unique project he and his team were undertaking. “Back in 2015, local hero Col. James Warren had the I-80/I-505 interchange named after him, but he didn’t want taxpayer dollars used to put the sign up, so no sign was ever created or produced.” Paul went on to list some of the amazing accomplishments Col. Warren is known for, including being one of the original Tuskegee Airmen and a veteran of WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He flew a total of 173 combat missions, and he was the navigator of “Homecoming One,” the first C-141 to fly into Gia Lam, North Vietnam, to return the first group of American POWs to Clark Air Base, in The Philippines. Paul explained that about $7,000 in total is needed to create and post the sign honoring Col. Warren; much of that they hope to obtain in donations during The Rowland Freedom Center’s “Faces of Freedom” speaker series (information on this exciting and informative series of talks can be found at www.rowlandfreedomcenter.org). Visit The Center at 300 County Airport Road, Suite C-4 in Vacaville to learn more about this great project, and to enjoy some incredible local history!
