SANDPOINT - Charlie is on the move.

For almost a year, the inoperable H-34 helicopter has sat in the ARC Quality Collision Repair parking lot, an area visible to drivers on U.S. 2.

However, with ARC owner Richard Oliver moving to North Dakota, Charlie needed a new place to land. Fortunately, the search didn't take long, and the chopper will be chilling henceforth in a Sandpoint Airport hangar, courtesy Air-1 Sandpoint Helicopters.

If it weren't for a group of dedicated veterans, Charlie wouldn't be in Sandpoint in the first place.

Bill Collier, a helicopter pilot and Vietnam War veteran, spearheaded a fundraising drive when he learned a collection of H-34s would be destroyed if not purchased by the end of the month. After galvanizing local groups and winning support from outside the state, the veterans purchased a H-34 - affectionately named Charlie - to serve as a local war memorial.

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