3/22/2008 12:01:00 AM
Honor Flight gives back to WWII vets
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| A group of veterans helped by Honor Flight place flowers in front of the Ohio pillar.
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BY JILL DEWERT
Times Bulletin Multimedia Editor
jdewert@timesbulletin.com
World War II. Nowadays, it can be hard to honor the veterans of this global military conflict because most of those who served are now in their 80s and 90s.
There is one organization who is striving to give something back to those who gave so much. Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is dedicated to flying veterans to Washington D.C. to see war memorials.
"Right now, our focus is on World War II veterans," said Public Relations Director Jim Tichy. "Many of them do not have the financial means or the physical strength to tackle a trip of this nature on their own."
Charles "Gene" Scarbrough, a WWII veteran from Grover Hill, took advantage of Honor Flight's services on July 7, 2007. He traveled with a group of other WWII veterans to Washington D.C. Senator Bob Dole, a WWII veteran himself, hosted the group when they arrived.
"It was so exciting. We were treated like royalty," said Scarbrough. "We went to the World War II Memorial, which is fantastic. The amazing thing about this was, a lot of the old fellows had never flown in an airplane, much less went to Washington D.C."
The group also visited the Iwo Jima Memorial.
The veterans made their trip to Washington D.C. by first arriving in Defiance to get on a bus that took them to Toledo. There, they boarded an airplane and flew to Washington D.C.
"There was only about 3 of us from Paulding County, but there was about 120 of us, total," said Scarbrough. "We had a great send-off in Defiance. There was a bunch of local people there to honor us."
Scarbrough said although he had been to the Iwo Jima Memorial before, it was nice to return and was wonderful to see the WWII Memorial.
"It's a great monument and it's a long time coming - they had built the Vietnam Memorial some time ago," said Scarbrough of the WWII Memorial, which was dedicated on May 29, 2004.
Scarbrough added that many of the "old guys" were just as impressed with the travel time as they were the memorials.
"They couldn't believe they were in Defiance in the morning at about 6 o'clock and then were back home watching the 11 o'clock news," said Scarbrough.
The one-day trip is an all-expenses paid ticket to possibly the last chance for most WWII veterans to see their memorial. On that note, Scarbrough added he was in about the best of health among the group.
"The man that took us on the trip said 'Seven, seven, seven. If it was seven, seven, eight - one more year - half of you probably wouldn't be here.' That's scary," said Scarbrough. "The WWII veterans are getting very, very scarce."
Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio is a division of the Honor Flight Network. The northwest Ohio hub was recently opened. The northwest group's maiden flight will take place on Wednesday, April 30.
Guardians, who pay their own way, travel with the veterans to assist with things like wheelchairs and oxygen tanks.
Donations can be mailed to Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio at P.O. Box 23018, Toledo, Ohio, 43623 or dropped of at any KeyBank location. More information is available online at www.honorflightnwo.org.
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Posted: Saturday, March 22, 2008
Article comment by:
Dee Pakulski
WONDERFUL article, Jill! Excellent writing. You truly brought out the "feeling" of Honor Flight. Thank you very much for your help in publicizing HF NWO!
Dee Pakulski
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