thedrifter
10-10-08, 05:12 AM
Another airlift into history for WWII vets
By Michael E. Ruane
Washington Post
Article Launched: 10/09/2008 08:25:00 PM PDT
WASHINGTON — From Minnesota and Georgia and Wisconsin and Kentucky, they came, arriving in tour buses whose baggage compartments were jammed with folded wheelchairs. Some now blind or hard of hearing or unsteady on their feet, they came with middle-aged children in tow and stories of the distant war.
Names and places carved in the annals of history rolled from the lips of bent and aged men, and a few women, Wednesday as hundreds of World War II veterans descended on Washington's National World War II Memorial as part of the special Honor Flight program that funds visits to the memorial.
They wore ball caps with the names of their ships or the names of their bombardment groups. They gathered for photographs, and several from Minnesota doffed their caps and saluted while a bugler sounded taps. All pronounced the memorial beautiful as they walked or were pushed in wheelchairs.
The Honor Flights are nonprofit programs in which communities across the country raise money and provide "guardians" for single-day trips to the memorial. The flights are the idea of Earl Morse, a pilot and physician's assistant in Springfield, Ohio, who several years ago realized that many of his World War II veteran patients did not have the money or the ability to make the trip.
He said the first flights were made in May 2005, one year after the memorial opened, with 12 veterans transported in small private planes. On Wednesday, about 500 vets from across the country were flown in on airliners, and Morse said the program has brought in as many as 1,100 in a single day.
As Morse spoke in the cool, sunny weather Wednesday, veteran Jim Rhyne approached him in a wheelchair to say thanks.
"It is such an honor to get you out here to see your memorial," Morse said, stooping to embrace the veteran.
Rhyne, who is blind, replied: "Oh, man. I'll tell you. This is wonderful. Thank you for all you've done."
Rhyne said he served as an engineer in the 13th Armored "Black Cat" Division of Gen. George Patton's 3rd Army in Europe. "We built temporary bridges for the tanks to go across rivers," he said, and blew up a few railroad bridges. "I was thankful to God for taking care of me all the time I was there," he said. "I was one of the more fortunate ones, very fortunate."
Nearby, Albert Pruett sat with his two sons beneath a hospitality tent. His brown eyes sparkled as he told of his experience as a young Marine private aboard the battleship USS Pennsylvania at Pearl Harbor.
The ship was in dry dock that morning, and he and three other Marines were assembled on the quarterdeck for the raising of the flag. He said they spotted planes diving on other battleships moored in the distance and wondered whether it was some sort of practice.
"But this was Sunday morning. Then we seen fire breaking out," he said. "About that time, here come a torpedo plane coming in, headed for us," he said.
The torpedo hit another ship with a tremendous blast, and when the pilot "tipped his wings," they saw the Rising Sun emblem of the Japanese. Pruett was stunned: "You just didn't think for a while."
Then, over loudspeakers, the sailors and Marines were ordered to battl
Ellie
By Michael E. Ruane
Washington Post
Article Launched: 10/09/2008 08:25:00 PM PDT
WASHINGTON — From Minnesota and Georgia and Wisconsin and Kentucky, they came, arriving in tour buses whose baggage compartments were jammed with folded wheelchairs. Some now blind or hard of hearing or unsteady on their feet, they came with middle-aged children in tow and stories of the distant war.
Names and places carved in the annals of history rolled from the lips of bent and aged men, and a few women, Wednesday as hundreds of World War II veterans descended on Washington's National World War II Memorial as part of the special Honor Flight program that funds visits to the memorial.
They wore ball caps with the names of their ships or the names of their bombardment groups. They gathered for photographs, and several from Minnesota doffed their caps and saluted while a bugler sounded taps. All pronounced the memorial beautiful as they walked or were pushed in wheelchairs.
The Honor Flights are nonprofit programs in which communities across the country raise money and provide "guardians" for single-day trips to the memorial. The flights are the idea of Earl Morse, a pilot and physician's assistant in Springfield, Ohio, who several years ago realized that many of his World War II veteran patients did not have the money or the ability to make the trip.
He said the first flights were made in May 2005, one year after the memorial opened, with 12 veterans transported in small private planes. On Wednesday, about 500 vets from across the country were flown in on airliners, and Morse said the program has brought in as many as 1,100 in a single day.
As Morse spoke in the cool, sunny weather Wednesday, veteran Jim Rhyne approached him in a wheelchair to say thanks.
"It is such an honor to get you out here to see your memorial," Morse said, stooping to embrace the veteran.
Rhyne, who is blind, replied: "Oh, man. I'll tell you. This is wonderful. Thank you for all you've done."
Rhyne said he served as an engineer in the 13th Armored "Black Cat" Division of Gen. George Patton's 3rd Army in Europe. "We built temporary bridges for the tanks to go across rivers," he said, and blew up a few railroad bridges. "I was thankful to God for taking care of me all the time I was there," he said. "I was one of the more fortunate ones, very fortunate."
Nearby, Albert Pruett sat with his two sons beneath a hospitality tent. His brown eyes sparkled as he told of his experience as a young Marine private aboard the battleship USS Pennsylvania at Pearl Harbor.
The ship was in dry dock that morning, and he and three other Marines were assembled on the quarterdeck for the raising of the flag. He said they spotted planes diving on other battleships moored in the distance and wondered whether it was some sort of practice.
"But this was Sunday morning. Then we seen fire breaking out," he said. "About that time, here come a torpedo plane coming in, headed for us," he said.
The torpedo hit another ship with a tremendous blast, and when the pilot "tipped his wings," they saw the Rising Sun emblem of the Japanese. Pruett was stunned: "You just didn't think for a while."
Then, over loudspeakers, the sailors and Marines were ordered to battl
Ellie