WAUSAU, Wis. (Dec. 20, 2006) - It took support of all types, from a lot of sectors, to fight World War II. And it's taking support of a literal type to restore one of the implements that helped America win it.

County Materials has donated concrete block to the restoration of a WWII-era glider being restored in two parts; one in Iron Mountain, Mich., and the other in a hangar at the airport in Wausau. The blocks serve as a sort of jack-stand for the project, helping volunteers lift the steel-tube frame off the floor and angle it just so to aid in welding it back together.

"The first thing we did was take lots of digital pictures of it, with a ruler. Then we took the parts off, labeled them, and started welding," said Syd Cohen, a retired industrial-arts teacher from Mosinee High School who has been flying for 25 years and works on the project with a fluctuating crew of volunteers, one of whom flew such a machine in WWII. "I didn't retire to relax; I retired so I could do more stuff."

The CG-4A Army glider, designed by the Weaver Aircraft Company (WACO) in Troy, Ohio, in 1942, was basically a flying container that delivered troops and equipment much like helicopters would today. Towed by a cargo plane, the silent war bird would set down in a field behind enemy lines. The nose was designed to swing up for loading and unloading. An ingenious pulley design would yank this section up if the contents - often a Jeep, howitzer or even small bulldozer - would break loose and fly forward in a hard landing, thus pulling the two pilots up and out of harm's way.

Surplus gliders were sold after the war, and the Ford plant in Kingsford, Mich. - the largest individual producer of the CG-4A - had more spare gliders and parts than it knew what to do with. The wood comprising the five crates in which each glider was shipped often was more valuable than the aircraft itself. Buyers used the lumber for a variety of purposes, even to build homes. Someone had found the remains of Cohen's glider in the woods, where it had been used as a hunting shack.

A mechanic friend of Cohen's happened across the glider while visiting a museum in Iron Mountain, Mich., more than a year ago. The work was split between the sites, and the restoration has been under way ever since, with "about three years" to go. It will reside in a museum in Iron Mountain, Mich., after completion. Meanwhile, it consists of work both overwhelming and tedious. But it's all in the name of history.

"We're just trying to be accurate and make it museum-quality," Cohen said. "Most people don't even know we used gliders in World War II. We want people to be able to stick their head inside and go, 'Oh, that's how they did that.'"

County Materials operates 30 locations serving the Midwest. The family-owned, American company is an industry leader in the manufacture and distribution of concrete block, brick, stone, ready-mix, hollowcore, pipe, pavers, retaining walls and Aggregate Finish products for residential, commercial and municipal construction and landscaping. For more information, call us at 1-800-289-2569 and ask for a product guide