LITTLE ROCK — This October, almost 180 World War II veterans from Arkansas will board two US Airways Airbus planes bound for Washington, D.C., from Little Rock.
Doctors, nurses and chaperones, called “guardians,” will accompany the men and women to the National WorldWar II Memorial, which was dedicated to their service in 2004.
“They don’t evidently trust us 91-year-old guys to be alone,” former Air Force pilot Donald Anderson of Horseshoe Bend joked. He turns 91 on Oct. 6.
It’s an “honor flight,” a free visit to the nation’s capital provided by Electrical Cooperatives of Arkansas, Wal-Mart Foundation and Tyson Foods. Since October 2009, five honor flights from the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport have granted 432 Arkansas veterans the chance to visit the monument some of their comrades never lived to see.
“These people need to see their memorial,” saidtrip director Bill McKenzie, director of aviation for Tyson. McKenzie decided to lead the trips for Arkansas veterans after hearing about it on TV.
Unlike the Korean War Veterans Memorial and Vietnam Veterans Memorial just down the National Mall, the World War II Memorial wasn’t built while itsveterans were still relatively young.
Rather, it opened nearly 60 years after Japanese forces surrendered in August 1945. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Korean War Veterans Memorial were dedicated in 1982 and 1995, respectively.
On their trip, the veterans,medical officials and guardians will depart Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/ Adams Field for Washington, D.C., around 8 a.m. Once there, they will tour several war memorials, highlighted by the National World War II Memorial, McKenzie said.
The veterans are due to arrive back in Little Rock at 8:30 p.m., he said.
Nancy Williams went on the first Arkansas veterans honor flight with her father, a retired Army Air Corps airplane mechanic. She said she’s glad they went when they did. Her father, now 90, has dementia.
He traded war stories throughout that trip, and the group grew pretty close, she said.
“I now have like 300 dads,” said Williams, who calls to recruit and schedule trips for the veterans.
Williams and McKenzie say they’ve received about 700 honor flight applications since the first Arkansas flight.
They tell the local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapters, American Legion posts and other community groups about the trips, but both say word-of-mouth has worked best.
Only World War II veterans are allowed to go, but family members are encouraged to join the trip as guardians, Williams said. Guardians pay their way, which helps contribute to the $65,000 total trip cost.
The corporate sponsors largely offset the roughly $58,500 in air fare, McKenzie said.
World War II veterans who wish to go should call McKenzie at (479) 290-5039.
He said there will likely be three more honor flights.
On his honor flight day, Anderson doesn’t think he’ll cry. He’ll just think about his six cousins who didn’t come home. And of his veteran brothers and Vietnam War veteran sons that did.
And his 10-member flight crew. He’s outlived eight of them, including his best friend and co-pilot from Tulsa.
As for his radio operator in California, Anderson said, “I’ll be thinking about him even though he’s still alive.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 06/21/2012