Muncy Historical Society

05/24/2026

The Vintage Gatherers Quilters, in partnership with the Muncy Historical Society, recognized two veterans who were members of Muncy's 1966 graduaton class. The presentations were made on Saturday, May 23, 2026.

Charles 'Chip' Pfleegor. To fly the F-4 Phantom, there were training classes in formation flying, basic fighter maneuvers, aerial combat maneuvering, bombing theory, weapons delivery, nuclear weapons, combat mission planning, electronic warfare and countermeasures, and weapons computer delivery system; learning information about all the unclassified systems of the Phantom; and thoroughly understanding this complex machine. Among which were the ejection seat - rocket-propelled - and the finer points of surviving emergency air and ground egress.
Serving in active duty with the US Navy from 1971 to 1982 with a land-based squadron out of Norfolk, VA and San Francisco, Lt. Commander Charles Downing Pfleegor, was a F-4 pilot. He served aboard the USS Independence, an aircraft carrier, on its scheduled deployment operations in the Mediterranean Sea. He was also stationed aboard the USS Oriskany, also an aircraft carrier, and in September 1976, he was the last US Navy man to step off its deck – the carrier being decommissioned at that time. When on land, Chip was stationed at Oceana Naval Air Base – a master jet base, Virginia Beach, Pensacola, Fl, Belleville, IL and Miramar Naval Base, home of the Navy’s Top Gun Flight School, San Diego, CA.
Chip Pfleegor served in active service from 1971 to 1982 and Navy Reserves through 1987.

James Harman. When James Harman arrived in Vietnam he had his first experience with tanks, and experience that led him to volunteer to be part of CAP -- the Combined Action Platoon -- a United States Marine Corps counterinsurgency tool during the Vietnam War. In the midst of a war with millions of combatants, twelve-man squads led by sergeants lived and died in villages amongst thousands of Viet-namese. Their mission: drive out the enemy, protect the villagers and train the farmers to defend themselves.
From 1966 through 1970, patrols of about five Marines and five farmers sneaked through the bush, with no night vision or on-call fires. To survive, they relied on stealth and pulling back when incoming fire was too intense. The peril of each night focused every Marine. At its peak, CAP platoons extended across 800 widely scattered hamlets, protecting 500,000 villagers.7 This was accomplished by 2,200 CAP Marines, three percent of the Marine total force. Those tiny squads, vastly outnumbered and isolated, should have been wiped out. Of the 209 villages protected by CAPs, not one reverted to enemy control. The CAP stands unique in America’s wars, never dupli-cated before or since.
After his 13-month in-country military experience, Jim was assigned military police duties at the Philadelphia Navy Yard which played a significant role in supporting the Vietnam War effort, with US Marines and Navy personnel stationed there for operations, administration, and training. Assigned to military police duties, Jim’s was responsible for base security and guarding nonviolent military inmates.
E-5 James Harman served in the U.S. Marines from 1966 to 1971.

05/24/2026

05/24/2026

On Sunday, May 17, 2026 the Vintage Gathereres Quilters, in partnership with the Muncy Historical Society, presented four quilts to veterans. The Muncy Presbyterian Church provided the location.

James Wurster. Mr. Wurster joined the US Navy in 1965 and following basic training, he served as a member of the USS Nitro crew. As a ship fitter, his responsibilities include maintenance -- these skilled tradespeople cut, shape, and weld metal parts to secure the structural framework of marine vessels; they play a critical role in shipbuilding yards and naval operations, working on everything from military destroyers to commercial cargo ships; they cut and fit metal plates and beams using torches, grinders, and plasma cutters; they weld and reinforce joints to meet naval or commercial vessel codes; and they inspect assemblies for accuracy, gaps, and structural integrity.
Mr. Wurster served in the US Navy from 1966-1968 on active duty and four years as a reservist.

Allan Kehrer. Mr. Kehrer, in the US Air Force from 1968 to 1972, served stateside at Seymour AFB, NC; Wichita, KS; Goldberg, AL; and Tyndall AFB, Panama City, FL. This US Air Force Crew Chief served two deployments to Thailand, serving at three different air force bases there. He was responsible for a wide range of duties on the F105 and F4’s, including performing pre-flight, post-flight, and in-flight inspections of aircraft systems; monitoring aircraft performance during flight operations to ensure safety and compliance with regulations; troubleshooting malfunctions and performing repairs on aircraft components as needed; and performing maintenance on engines, landing gear, brakes, electrical systems, hydraulic systems, fuel systems, and other aircraft components.

Charles Frederick Welch. The 437th Maintenance Squadron is responsible for maintaining the operational readiness of the C-17 aircraft fleet, ensuring that airlift missions can be conducted effectively. The 437th Maintenance Group enables Department of Defense tactical airdrop, worldwide airlift, aeromedical evacuation support and personnel and freight movement. As a jet aircraft mechanic, Mr. Welch served with the US Air Force from 1963 to 1967. His main duty was to ensure the airworthiness of military aircraft, working with complex mechanical systems, diagnosing and repairing mechanical and electrical issues, replacing faulty parts and systems, testing aircraft systems, and carrying out necessary maintenance. Serving stateside, Mr. Welch was assigned to Lackland AFB, San Antonio, TX; Amarillo AFB, TX; and Joint Base at Charleston, SC.

John Bird. Mr. Bird served with the 1st Infantry Division Forward – a division supporting U.S. Army Europe and Africa by managing regional forces, conducting multinational training, and enhancing NATO partnerships. His military police unit provided security, law enforcement, and traffic control, acting as a crucial part of the sustainment and security apparatus in European operations.
He served with the 188th, a company whose mission included area security, detainee operations, convoy security, and support to civil authorities during domestic emergencies. Renowned for its professionalism and adaptability.
Mr. Bird’s military career spanned the period 1977 to 1998, serving different divisions in a military police officer role. During his service, Mr. Bird was stationed ‘stateside’ at Fort Meade, Fort Eustis, and Fort Story, and he deployed to Germany and the Marshall Islands. In 1994, his unit was deployed to Port-au-Prince, Haiti for Operation Uphold Democracy and he was deployed to the Daegu (Taegu) area in South Korea. .
Mr. Bird finished his 21 year military career as a recruiting officer with the Williamsport Recruiting Center, Williamsport, PA.

05/24/2026

The Vintage Gatheres Quilters, a group operating in partnership with the Muncy Historical Society, presented Wayne Smith with a 'Quilt of Valor' quilt on Saturday, May 16, 2026.
The 19th Quartermaster Corps in Korea supported Eighth Army operations, providing essential supply and logistical services - critical logistics, supplies, and support services to US troops holding the Demilitarized Zone. The 1960-1962 period saw high tensions, including the "April Revolution" -- mass protests against the South Korean President and his government. The pro-tests were triggered by the discovery of the body of a local high school stu-dent killed by police during demonstrations, protests against rigged elec-tions, against autocratic rule, against corruption, and against the use of vio-lence toward political opposition.
In South Korea, several U.S. military installations were operational, primar-ily serving as logistics and air support hubs rather than front-line combat ba-ses. Mr. Smith was stationed primarily at Taegu Air Base, a base which has played a significant role in U.S. and Republic of Korea military operations since the Korean War, hosting various fighter, reconnaissance, and transport units.
Following his service with the 19th Quartermaster Unit, Sergeant Wayne Smith joined the 814th Supply Company, an army reserve unit based in Bloomsburg, PA. The 814th provided local training for reservists during the heightened tension of the Cold War which included the Cuban Missile Crisis and the beginning of the major military buildup in Vietnam.
Mr. Smith served his country In active service 1960-1962, followed by reserve duty 1962-1966.

(Shown: Wyane Smith with Priscilla Blass. Quilt pieced by Priscilla Blass, quilted by Larry Rhinehart, and binding by Francie Appleman.)

05/07/2026

Oney and the Missus
The intertwined lives of Martha Washington and her enslaved servant Oney Judge

The Muncy Historical Society will host Pat Jordan and Brittany Hughes in their 2-person performance, “Oney Judge and the Missus”, on Sunday, May 17, 2026. The location is the Muncy Presbyterian Church, 10 E. Penn Street, corner of East Penn and South Washington Streets, in Muncy.

Beginning at 1:30 p.m. members of the Vintage Gatherers Quilters, a group operating under the auspices of the Quilts of Valor® Foundation, will present quilts to honor and gift to several well-deserving veterans whose service has been registered with the Foundation. Immediately following, Martha Washington and Oney Judge, portrayed by Pat Jordan and Brittany Hughes respectively, will tell their story.

George Washington lived an extraordinary life which included his personal years, military leadership, and finally two terms as the leader of new American Republic. Less familiar to many is the life of his wife Martha, who was the wealthiest widow in all of Virginia and whose fortune in many ways made his success possible. But Martha, like women of her time, had little control over her destiny and once described herself as feeling like “a prisoner of state.”

Yet Martha’s love and dedication was proven when, during the Revolutionary War, she traveled to every winter headquarters to be by her husband’s side in the eight years of the war. General Nathaniel Greene observed that “Mrs. Washington is excessive fond of the General and he of her. They are very happy in each other.” It’s been said that the soldiers always looked forward to Martha’s arrival, thinking if the General asked her to come, all would be right.

Oney & the Missus is a behind-the-scenes look at the Washingtons and their household, especially the intertwined lives of Martha and her enslaved servant, Oney Judge, who was raised side-by-side with Martha’s granddaughter Nelly. Oney attested to Martha’s kindness but also questioned her acceptance of the belief of family, church and government which told her that some people could own other people. Oney pined for freedom and the ability to make her own choices.

As women of their times, could Martha or Oney ever be completely free? These are their stories.

“Oney and the Missus” is the fifth in the Muncy Historical Society’s America250 series, made possible in part through a grant from the Margaret Waldron Memorial Fund at the First Community Foundation of Pennsylvania. The Society’s programs are always open to the public and free of charge unless noted.

04/01/2026

Six veterans, residents at Wolf Run Village received their "Quilts of Valor" yesterday, March 31, 2026. The Vintage Gatherers Quilters, a group operating under the auspices of the Quilts of Valor Foundation, partnered with the Muncy Historical Society and Mandy Vandine, Activities Director at Wolf Run Village, to make the presentations happen.

Robert Haffley: Less than a day after U.S. President Harry Truman decided to send Amer-ican troops to aid the UN and South Korean forces on the Korean Penin-sula, the first propaganda leaflets were designed, printed, and dropped from an aircraft over the battle area. The United States Secretary of the Army strongly endorsed psychological operations, encouraging his men to “bury the enemy with paper” – believing that the Korean situation offered a special opportunity for highly profitable exploitations of psychological war-fare. The aim of psychological warfare was to gain an advantage over one’s enemy by exploiting doubt and fear about their chances of victory.
Between June 1950 and July 1953, in-country units produced and disseminated some 2.4 billion leaflets, promoting the surrender of thousands of North Korean and Chinese Communist troops. Robert Haffley, who served in the US Army 1950 to 1954, was deployed to the Philippines where he assumed his role in the “psychological warfare propaganda” campaign.

James Aller: The 66th was responsible for maintenance support for U.S. Army Europe units, ensuring equipment readiness. During the Vietnam War era, the U.S. Army maintained a strong presence in Germany to support NATO commitments and counter-Soviet expansion. The 66th Maintenance Battalion was a key logistical unit in Germany during this period, and while many units and draftees were sent to Vietnam, a significant number were assigned to Germany to maintain "steady state" defense operations. Mr. Aller managed heavy equipment readiness, including the M60 – a better armored, superior gunned, and improved mobility tank. Mr. Aller served from 1965-1968.

David Bock: His first ship was the USS Oxford, a technical research ship), tasked with conducting research in the reception of electronic signals intelligence gathering. In 1962, the Oxford's mission had been to eavesdrop on Cuban microwave communications throughout the island. They listened in on the Cuban secret police, the Cuban navy, air defenses, and civil aviation. Radar technicians on board detected the presence of Soviet P-12 radar along with installation of missile sites.
Next, Mr. Bock served aboard the USS Alstede which carried stores, refrigerated items, and equipment to ships in the fleet and to remote stations and staging areas. The Alstede deployed to the Mediterranean Sea – Italy, Greece and Spain -- two or three times a year to resupply units of the U.S. 6th Fleet operating there.
Mr. Bock served in the US Navy from 1962-1966.

Lena Carichner: After the Vietnam War, the President Nixon administration established reserve forces as the primary source to augment future military needs. This policy fully integrated the Air Force Reserve into mainstream defense planning rather than acting merely as a backup. Mrs. Carichner enlisted with the US Air Force Reserves to serve her country and to provide the funds needed to support herself and her young children.
She received her basic training at Fort McPherson, Georgia -- the installation that was home to a major unit of the Third U.S. Army as well as the headquarters of the U.S. Armed Forces Command, which is responsible for the command and control, unit training, and operational readiness of active military, National Guard, and reserve personnel.
Mrs. Carichner sreved in the US Air Force Reserves, 1971-1976.

James Stahl: The period 1962–1966 marked a total shift from a peacetime focus to conducting a limited war in a jungle environment, with fighters designed for nuclear missions dropping conventional bombs on guerrilla targets. The 11th Airborne Division pioneered new tactics and equipment for air assault operations.
Mr. Stahl served as an aerial scout observer on board a low-flying and slow ‘scout’ helicopter – a light observation helicopter -- searching for enemy positions and using smoke grenades to mark targets for attack helicopters. In Vietnam, the scout helicopter was commonly operated along with Cobra attack helicopters, using so-called “hunter-killer” tactics to flush out and eliminate hostile ground targets. The light observation helicopter would act as bait to draw enemy fire and mark targets for other platforms such as the Cobra.
Mr. Stahl’s job was to identify and report enemy activity – Viet Cong or weapons, while his gunship partner provided covering fire. This role was dangerous -- reportedly, 964 out of 1,422, or 68% of the US military’s light observation helicopters were destroyed in Vietnam. Mr. Stahl served from 1962 to 1966.

John Yohner: During the period from 1960 to 1989, the U.S. Army in Kaiserslautern, Germany, functioned as a massive logistics, support, and transportation hub in Europe, serving as part of the largest concentration of American military personnel outside the United States. The Kaiserslautern Military Community was heavily established, with numerous barracks acting as logistical centers in support of the 7TH U.S. Army and other NATO missions to deter Soviet aggression.
This area of Germany was vital for line-haul operations and logistics, with the 53rd Transportation Battalion providing transportation support to theater operations. The region held pre-positioned stocks designed for combat equipment needed by divisions rapidly deployed from the U.S. in an emergency.
Mr. Yohner's service included active and reserve status and he attained the rank of captain, serving his country 1960 to 1989.

03/24/2026

Seven veterans receive quilts from the Vintage Gatherers Quilters on Sunday, March 22, follwoing the 2-person performance of President lincoln and Anna Morris Ellis Holstein.

03/21/2026

Members of the Vintage Gatherers and Muncy Historical Society presented Mr. Dale Strassner with his Quilt of Vallor on March 12, 20026.

Mr. Strassner served as a private in the US Army 1954-1956 -- two years during the Cold War year when the world was under threat of Soviet invasion. The U.S. stationed soldiers in France where they functioned In the Communication Zone, a massive logistics, communication, and supply hub which was designed to support U.S. forces in Germany and NATO operations in Europe. This network stretched from Atlantic Ocean ports to supply depots and hospitals near the German border.

The U.S. Army Communication Zone Europe was the "lifeblood" of the American defense network, responsible for receiving supplies and transporting them to forward-based troops. During this period, the Army was heavily involved in building storage warehouses, hospitals, and barracks.
France was used as a secure, rear-echelon location to store, transport, and maintain equipment away from the immediate Soviet threat to West Germany. There were approximately 70,000 soldiers and their dependents stationed in France.

As a private in the US Army, serving from 1954 to 1956, Mr. Strassner was stationed in France. The Army, during this period, was not a combat force but a massive logistical, engineering, and supply network built to enable a rapid response to a potential Soviet invasion. As a member of a U.S. transportation units, his role was to support American forces in Germany, and he would have participated in combat readiness exercises although the key purpose was to provide a secure supply line to West Germany in the event of Soviet attack.

Photo: Mr. Strassner with his daughters

03/21/2026

The Road to Gettysburg
Sunday, March 22, 2026, at 2 P.M.
St. Andrew Evangelical Church
201 S. Main Street, Muncy
A Muncy Historical Society
America250 Program

On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered his profoundly affecting Gettysburg Address, one of the most historically significant documents in our history. That day, just ten feet away, sat Anna Morris Holstein, the matron of Gettysburg’s Letterman hospital and nurse who served over three years in the bloody battlefield hospitals of the Army of the Potomac in the Civil War. Different roads—but both lead to Gettysburg. These are their stories.

Both were part of an armed conflict fought to assure the continuation of our country’s union and which would see the end of slavery in America. Both saw the terrible death and destruction that this war visited upon our nation. Both did all they could to help bring about an end to a violent altercation which tore our nation apart for four disastrous years. And both found themselves in attendance at the unforgettable commemoration at Gettysburg National Cemetery on the site of a battle which arguably marks the pivotal turning point of the Civil War.

Many roads led to Gettysburg where thousands gave their lives that July and now, four months later, 15,000 people assembled to honor those who fought the battle there. That day, hope was in the minds and hearts of everyone—two of whom included the 16th President of the United States and the other a woman determined to serve her country so long as she was needed and whose experiences ultimately would remain “graven in her memory as with a steel pen.”

Immediately following the one-hour performance, members of the Vintage Gatherers Quilters, a group operating under the auspices of the Quilts of Valor® Foundation, will present quilts to honor and gift to several well-deserving veterans whose service has been registered with the Foundation.

02/16/2026

THE VINTAGE GATHERERS QUILTERS INVITE YOU … There are seats still available and we've extended the deadline for registration

Quilts Of Valor® Sew In
Thursday-Saturday, February 26-28, 9 AM to 3 PM
First United Methodist Church
602 S. Market Street, Muncy 17756
Shake off those winter blahs and join us for some quality sewing time!

The Vintage Gatherers Quilters and our local quilting community, in partnership with the Muncy Historical Society, and operating under the auspices of the Quilts of Valor® Foundation are making quilts to honor and gift to veterans and service members.

Join us for one, two or all three days as we create special quilts to gift to our country’s veterans – working on your own for veteran quilt, or working as a group, with dedicated sewing time and limited interruptions (bathroom breaks and nutritional interludes!) to produce beautiful quilts and pillowcases.

There will be a cutting station, ironing station, with two sewists per table! Tables, chairs and lunch will be provided daily. Feel free to pack your own lunch or bring your own lunch if you have dietary restrictions or bring snacks to share. We will work 9-3ish, go home for supper and bedtime, and return the next morning rested and refreshed and ready to work again! (Your equipment and quilting supplies can be left at the church until the end of the sew-in.)

Bring your sewing machine & supplies and your own QOV project to finish or you can work on the kits, pillowcases, and patches that will be available. Depending on turnout and production, we may have a station to make binding or backings, or a station to hand sew applied bindings. There will also be some patriotic fabrics available if you need to add to your project. If you have sewing or quilting related fabrics, patterns or notions that you don’t want or need anymore, please feel free to bring them to place on our ‘share’ table. And there will be tons of ideas and inspiration too!

(The First United Methodist Church has graciously donated their facility at no cost.)
Class size is limited to 35 (we will keep a waiting list, if necessary)
_______________________________________________________________________
REGISTER BY FEBRUARY 21, 2026
Muncy Historical Society, PO Box 11, Muncy, PA 17756 or email: [email protected]
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Name: _______________________________________________________________________
Address: ______________________________________________________________________
Email: __________________________________________Phone: ________________________
What day(s) will you attend: Thursday 2/26 _____ Friday 2/27 _____ Saturday 2/28 ____
Contact Linda Poulton with any questions, 570/546-5917 or 570/546-5502