service
HONORING
A HERO
From combat over the Pacific to selling
candy in Totowa, a life is remembered
WRITTEN BY JARRAD SAFFREN
PHOTOGRAPH BY NANCY ROKOS
On display at the Wing Headquarters Building, Joint
Base-McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst: The journal, Air Medal,
and photo of SSgt. Lafayette Belbol, who served in
the U.S. Army Corps in WWII.
May 8 marked the 75th anniversary of the German surrender in WWII; September 2
will mark 75 years since fighting ended in Asia. Wayne Magazine salutes those who
served, as well as their descendants who help keep the memory of their sacrifices alive.
R
ight before the coronavirus
pandemic called for New
Jersey residents to socially
distance themselves from
each other, Michael Hilway
and Lafayette A. Belbol walked into
the headquarters of the 87th Air
Base Wing at Joint Base McGuire-
Dix-Lakehurst. They looked up at
the glass display on the wall, and the
first thing they noticed was a picture.
It showed a strapping young airman,
pilot goggles on his forehead, bushy
eyebrows, dark eyes and white teeth,
smiling back at them.
“Look at big Lar!” said Woodland
Park's Hilway, seeing his uncle's
photo. “I don’t know whether to laugh
or cry,” said Parsippany's Belbol upon
seeing his father's image.
“Big Lar” was Lafayette G. Belbol,
an accomplished World War II fighter
pilot who flew 20 combat missions
in the Pacific Theater. After the war,
he became a successful candy store
owner in Totowa.
The elder Belbol lived a full life,
and it was now on full display at the
base. You could see the wall-length
shrine right as you walked into the
headquarters building for the 87th
wing. It showed photos from
throughout Belbol’s life, particularly
from his time with the Army Air
Corps during World War II. It also
featured distinctions from his 190-
plus hours in the Pacific Theater,
including the Air Medal he earned for
the missions he flew in the spring of
1945, as the Allies fought to bring the
war to a close.
It even showcased local newspaper
clippings from the rest of Belbol’s life
in North Jersey, from his marriage
to Nora Makoujy in 1941 and from
his obituary in June 2008, which
mentioned his three sons, eight grand-
children and nine great-grandchildren.
Lafayette A. Belbol is the elder
Belbol’s last surviving child, and he
donated the artifacts from his father’s
life to the joint base because, as he
said, “Otherwise they’d wind up in a
dumpster.” Joint base historian James
J. Warrick received the donation last
fall and decided to create the memo-
rial display because “you get to see
this airman’s life in the military, but
you get to show he was human, too.
He had a wife, he had sons, he had
family. He had a job and was well-
respected in the community,” Warrick
said. “We’re able to put that whole
person on display.”
Warrick said the 87th Air Base
building at that time saw a lot of
traffic, from commanders to members
of the legal team to military retirees
stopping by to do wills. But no one
looked closer at it than Lafayette A.
Belbol and Hilway did. They drove
more than an hour from their North
Jersey homes to see the display, and
they weren’t disappointed. After walk-
ing in and noticing the picture, they
examined the shrine and snapped pho-
tos for almost 40 minutes, only look-
ing up to thank Warrick for his work.
“I had no idea it would be such
a massive display,” Hilway said. “I
thought it’d be a thing on a desk in
the corner.”
“I’m in awe,” said Belbol, fighting
back tears.
After serving as a memorial, the
artifacts are stored in Hollinger boxes
– special cardboard boxes with metal
edges designed to preserve archival
documents and pictures. That way
they will be part of the official Air
Force archives and be preserved for
“posterity,” Warrick said.
But the historian wanted to leave
the shrine up for as long as he could,
because, unlike most of them, this
one didn’t honor generals or service
members near the top of the military’s
hierarchy. This was a tribute to a
regular man, but one who still led an
important life. “He was the everyday
enlisted man,” Warrick said.
He was, as Hilway said, “Big Lar!” ■
WAYNE MAGAZINE MAY 2020
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