106th Rescue Wing Families Explore Military History Museum

Children and family members connected to the Westhampton Beach-based Air National Guard unit toured the expanded Rocky Point museum, learning firsthand about the sacrifices of America’s service members.

Families connected to the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing visited the Suffolk County Military History Museum in Rocky Point recently, giving children an opportunity to learn about military history from veterans and view artifacts spanning more than two centuries of American and world conflicts.

The group, coordinated through the 106th Rescue Wing’s family support program, included children ranging from about 4 years old to teenagers, along with youth counselors and adult leaders. They spent approximately two hours touring the museum’s original galleries and newly expanded exhibit space.

Museum spokesman Richard Acritelli said the visit created a meaningful connection between the children and the military heritage their families help carry forward.

“It was a very nice group. It was a great experience,” Acritelli said. “They were very well behaved, very inquisitive, and we had veterans there to speak to the kids.”

Based at Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base in Westhampton Beach, the 106th Rescue Wing is one of the Air Force’s premier combat search-and-rescue units. The wing deploys worldwide to recover downed aircrews and isolated personnel in hostile environments while also supporting humanitarian missions, disaster response and civil search-and-rescue operations. Its fleet includes HH-60W Jolly Green II rescue helicopters and HC-130J Combat King II aircraft.

Acritelli said many of the children have parents serving with the wing, whose demanding mission often keeps service members deployed far from home.

“It’s possible that some of them could be overseas or in different states now,” he said. “It’s a very, very active mission out there, so it was kind of nice to have that connection between them and the museum.”

The museum opened both its original and newly expanded galleries for the visit, allowing the group to view exhibits featuring World War II, Korea, Vietnam and more recent military history, along with rare artifacts, weapons and military memorabilia.