OCALA, FL (352today.com) – Long before it became a bustling city, Ocala played a quiet but crucial role in preparing pilots for World War II. Now, a new monument at the Marion County Veterans Memorial Park is honoring that legacy — thanks to the dedication of local resident and businessman Terry Crawford.

Crawford, a pilot and CEO of Ocala-based Conimar, has long been passionate about preserving the history of the Greenville Aviation School, a World War II-era flight training program that operated right here at Taylor Field — the original site of today’s Ocala International Airport.

Working alongside fellow aviation enthusiast Tony Baldwin, Crawford helped relocate a nearly 85-year-old flagpole and monument from the school grounds to the veterans park. The pine flagpole, nearly petrified with age, will soon display a vintage-style windsock similar to those used during the school’s training days.

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“In 2017, when I first started to form the foundation, I found out about this,” said Ron Oppliger, chairman of the Friends of the Ocala/Marion County Veterans Memorial Park Foundation. “They’ve been working with the county for months and years before that, but it was always on hold. Finally, it’s come to fruition.”

Crawford and Baldwin have covered all the costs of moving and refurbishing the display, which highlights Ocala’s role in training military pilots during the early 1940s.

The Greenville Aviation School opened in November 1941 at Taylor Field, located near present-day SR 200 and Lemon Avenue. Though the school was based in Ocala, it retained the name “Greenville Aviation” due to its original contract location in Mississippi — a name that stuck even after plans shifted to Florida.

“There were about 30 schools around the country, Contract Pilot Schools, The Army, the U.S. Army Air Corps started all of the pilots in the same airplane, they went from primary training where you learned how to fly, to a mid-course and then to an advanced course,” said Crawford.

The school primarily used Boeing Stearman Kaydet PT-17s for flight training, and all instruction was done by civilians. Crawford, who owns a PT-17, says future plans include additional monuments recognizing the Ocala National Forest bombing range and the Dunnellon Airport.

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