Prodigal maiden kept returning to this Waltham veteran

By William Holder
Waltham Times Contributing Writer 

The bust of a Maidenform display mannequin named the Laden Maiden peers out from a glass case in the Waltham Museum’s Military Room, and she has quite a war story to tell on this Veterans Day.

The maiden originally sat on a countertop in the lingerie section of the Grover Cronin department store on Moody Street. When Waltham native Antonio Taranto volunteered for the Army Air Corps, a neighbor who worked at the store gave him the mannequin for fun and good luck, according to the exhibit’s description.

The crew of Taranto’s B-24 Liberator bomber adopted the Laden Maiden, named after their plane, as an honorary member, and during 1944 she flew 26 missions over Germany and France. She survived anti-aircraft fire and several crash landings, including one in the English Channel.

“I’d hang her by a piece of rope from the ceiling of the plane in the waist. She had her hand blown off in one mission,” Taranto recounted in an audio recording. He said the base on which she sat was blown off by shrapnel in another mission.

The Laden Maiden disappeared from Taranto’s luggage after his discharge and didn’t reappear until 1951, when his mother told him a package had arrived for him. A note in the box stated that various items had been confiscated in Greenland for security reasons.

Years later Taranto allowed the Laden Maiden to be shown at Nellis Air Force Base in a 1995 exhibition marking the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. He thought it would be returned to him after the exhibition, but a three-star general touring the exhibition had other ideas. He took it to the Pentagon to show off the maiden, and from there she was spirited off to a museum in England.

The maiden came back to Taranto in 2001, much to his surprise, he said, not realizing that she was merely on loan to the museum. He later decided that the Waltham Museum should be her home.

Museum volunteer Janet Driscoll said that the Laden Maiden is one of the highlights of the museum’s Military Room, which holds artifacts from Waltham’s military history. Waltham’s military record dates to 1636, when the town’s first militia was formed to fight in the French and Indian War. This militia is the oldest and longest continuously operating military unit in the United States.

Taranto, who was born in Waltham in 1923, served as a tail gunner with the 466th Army Air Corps, 8th Air Force based in Britain, during World War II.

He worked at Skelgas and then Getty Oil, spending many years as a manager and civil engineer. He retired to Las Vegas in 1984. He and his wife had two children and three grandchildren, according to his obituary. He passed away in 2008. He was 84.

The Military Room is sponsored by the Everett-Garfield Family. (Herb Everett is founder of Everett & Sons Insurance Agency of Waltham). Veterans are invited to visit the museum at no charge during the month of November. Active military members are always free. Hours are Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and weekdays by appointment by calling (781) -893-9020 or emailing info@walthammuseum.org. See walthammuseum.org for additional information.

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