LONDONDERRY – George Rowe was a busy young man. The Belmont, Massachusetts native graduated from Belmont High School in the class of 1947 and then was off to war.

“I did two,” he said. “Initially I was in the Marine Aviation reserve in 1948. And then in 1950, we got activated for the war in Korea. When I came home from that, I finished another four years in the Marine Corps aviation and then I transferred to the Coast Guard aviation reserve and retired from that when they said I was too old.”

Rowe said he enjoyed both – “Either one, doesn’t matter. I had a good time doing both.”

He retired in 1989, and if you ask him how long he served, Rowe is quick with his response.

“Forty-one years, three months and 14 days, but who’s counting,” he said.

Rowe moved to New Hampshire in 1974. He said his basic roots are from here. And today, he is still very active in the American Legion.

“When I came off of active duty in 1953, I went with a VFW band in Massachusetts,” he said. “I played trumpet in the beginning, then switched to bass drum because the man playing couldn’t do it any longer.”

Rowe played other brass instruments, substituting here and there when necessary.

“In 1956, at the end of Marine Corps enlistment, that’s when I went into Coast Guard aviation reserve. It was my civilian occupation of TK which prompted me to do that.

I wanted to go into the Navy, but they wouldn’t take me rate-for-rate. In the Navy, I would have been pushed back to a Seamen. But I didn’t want to do that, obviously.”

After active duty, Rowe went to aircraft mechanic school, which was a fifteen-month course. When he graduated, the school was looking for another instructor.

“Because of my background in aviation in the Marine Corps, I met the requirements for the department of education in Massachusetts. So I was hired, and taught the same subjects for five and a half years. I enjoyed it but at the time I needed more experience because I didn’t think teaching would be my end-of-life type of job.”

Instead, Rowe learned how to fly and worked as a mechanic in March 1960. With his maintenance and mechanic experience, he was hired as a pilot/mechanic for a private company in New Hampshire, the Brown Paper Company.

Rowe flew out of Boston for Brown and then went to Berlin, New Hampshire, but they were unable to keep the aircraft there due to weather conditions, so it was back to Boston.

“The airport in Milan, New Hampshire was kind of small,” he recalled. “And they didn’t have a full instrument approach for take-off and landing.”

Two-years later, Rowe took a job with GTE for twelve years.

“They’re no longer in the aviation business,” he shared. “My last job was for Cabot Corporation out of Boston.”

Rowe flew professionally for a total of 26 years.

He joined the American Legion band in 1977 and is still part of the organization to this day.

And additionally, he’s part of the firing squad for military honors at funerals. Both are honors he said he is tremendously proud of.