Arkansas Honor Flight Lands In Washington

By Peter Urban

Stephens Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — On an overcast Saturday, more than 70 World War II veterans from Northwest Arkansas toured the World War II Memorial and recalled memories of their time of service to the nation.

“It brings back a lot of memories,” said Elmo Patton, 91, of Bethel Heights.

Patton pulled out a photograph from his jacket of himself dressed in his Army dress uniform. He still has the uniform and wears it every year on Veterans Day. During World War II, Patton served three years in Europe in a supply depot.

At A Glance

Honor Flight Network

Honor Flight Network is a nonprofit organization created solely to honor America’s veterans for all their sacrifices. The organization transports veterans to Washington to visit and reflect at their memorials. Top priority is given to the senior veterans — World War II survivors, along with those other veterans who may be terminally ill.

Source: www.honorflight.org

“I issued Spam and C rations,” he joked.

Long retired, Patton volunteers once a week at the VA hospital in Fayetteville taking vital signs — blood pressure and temperature — of patients.

John Dockery, 87, of Fayetteville also served in the Army infantry and was at the Battle of Bulge when it began Dec. 16, 1944.

“He was one of the few first scouts to make it,” said David Dockery, his son, who accompanied him on the trip.

The two stood together for photographs aside a 17-foot tall pillar inscribed with “Arkansas” — one of 56 that circle the memorial representing the nation’s states and territories.

“I’ve seen pictures of the memorial but it is really something else to see it in reality,” John Dockery said.

Thousands of WWII veterans have visited the memorial since the first Honor Flight took place in May 2005. This was the sixth Honor Flight from Northwest Arkansas and was made possible through donations from Tyson Foods and the Walmart Foundation.

The veterans arrived Saturday morning on a charter flight and planned to visit several war monuments before heading back to Northwest Arkansas Saturday evening.

“I am really impressed,” said Bill Corbin, 86, of Fayetteville. “The people that run these Honor Flights have such enthusiasm and they have treated us like we are up on a pedestal. I’ve never been treated like that my whole life.”

Corbin was drafted at the tail end of the war. He continued to serve in the Army for another two years afterward in Germany, so that he could qualify for the GI Bill. He later served in the Korean War.

Bill Vernon, 90, of Siloam Springs said the nation’s capital has changed a lot since his service here 73 years ago.

Vernon, who was in the Marines, recalled the Navy and Army had depots along Constitution Avenue, and the Pentagon had yet to be constructed. He remembers being across the Potomac River at the Navy Bureau of Personnel when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

“I was there that Sunday morning. By the afternoon there was so much brass who showed up and the meetings started. Things changed,” he said.

Vernon ended up in the Pacific theater where he led a 40-member platoon that fought on the islands of Saipan and Okinawa, among others.

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