Veterans working on a Vietnam veterans memorial in Rome got a big delivery from Missouri that would complete the memorial they had been working on for years: a Huey helicopter.

“We started this dream back in 1994 when the Moving Wall came to Rome,” said Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Vice President Mark Jennings.

Restoration work has been going on for months, preparing it for display. Just seeing the helicopter brings back memories for some veterans.

“I flew these helicopters when I was in Vietnam in ‘69, probably 3,500 hours just in that helicopter alone, stateside and in other countries as well,” said Army veteran Jim Vause.

Vause loved flying aircraft so much he says he wasn’t upset when he was called out of retirement.

“They called me up for 17 months. It turned out to be 35, and I went to Afghanistan flying combat missions in a Black Hawk. I was in my 50s and I loved every minute of it,” Vause said.

Some hiccups came up over the last year, but it’s the folks at Strategic Global Aviation restoring the aircraft to its original olive green look. It used to belong to the Royal Australian Air Force Service.

Jennings is one of the veterans behind the memorial.

“It seems surreal we’re at this stage right now,” he said.

There are plans for the helicopter to officially be dedicated this summer. Planners behind the memorial say restoring the helicopter has really been a community effort as several people from different facilities have had a hand in the work.