WWII MEMORIAL: Jewel of the Mall

Canton Akron and Elizabeth Dole

Just as I had herded all the Canton Akron cats into my frame, along came Mrs. Dole tothrow some light on the image. She has taken over for Senator Dole and her presence is as large as his. She is ever gracious and has a empathy with people that is stunning to experience.  We made some pictures of her today for a museum exhibit on her accomplishments which are significant!  She’s been a good friend to Honor Flight and is currently spending a lot of time with America’s Wounded Warriors.

I should mention here that I am moving the WWII Memorial blog from Typepad over to my WordPress site to see if I can work out some “continuity.”  I may keep both hosts for a bit so the blogs don’t get lost too quickly.  Have a look at some of the events that have occurred over the past seven years!

 

Honor Flights 5/22/2012

Chicago, Arizona, Columbia and Myrtle Beach, SC and North West Ohio Honor Flights were in town today as was Jim McLaughlin, President of Honor Flight and Susan Barr traveling with Arizona.   The predicted stormy weather held off all day and other than a bit of humidity, my trip to the Memorial was absolute karma– A cure for my blues where you will find George Kerestes, Al Doehner and a cadre of people interested in “giving.”  Pretty phenomenal experience in every way.

As usual, I took a few snaps which are available for free download on the photo storage site where there are now over 25000 images stored from the last five or six years of photography.  All of the Honor Flight folders are dated if you are looking for information and it is “keyword searchable” which I have found invaluable with my ever shrinking personal “database.”

As we arrived, some first graders from Glebe School were lined up to greet the North West Ohio Honor Flights and so the day began with one incredibly nice thing after another happening.  All the flights had wreaths, NW Ohio had a tent which was cool and shady and someone gave Jim McLaughlin a check for a $1000.00.  There was another busload of employees from a tech company who were volunteering and had “just heard about the flights and decided to show up”.  Mary Pettinato as usual did up the town with a great ceremony which John Bonk and I both photographed.  So enjoy the photographs and thanks to all of you volunteers and veterans for a great day!

 

Honor Flight numbers are IMPRESSIVE ... Congratulations to all!!!

I received these numbers from Jim McLaughlin and I think that all the Honor Flight volunteers deserve great praise, ovations and a terrific Holiday Season.  Through rain, delays, departures and hot and cold days, you have all participated in an extraordianary piece of American History!  Congrats!

Please find the attached information to reflect totals for the 2011 Flying Season:

 -Veterans Flown in 2011: 18,055
-Guardians Flown in 2011: 13,893
-Combined Total in 2011: 31,948

And Since the inception of Honor Flight in May, 2005:
-Veterans Flown since inception: 81,348
-Guardians Flown since inception: 39,184
-Combined Total since inception: 120,532

Senator Dole on the Mend

From Judy Lemmons

Senator Dole's office reports "he is quite well, working from home and doing his daily physical therapy to build up his strength. He may come in later this week or next depending on how the PT is going.

He commented on how much better he feels already and has been so optimistic! I think he will be training for a marathon in no time"

What a guy!  Keep him in your prayers as he continues to get stronger and stronger.
 

My Father Remembered on Veterans Day

 

A salute to my father Edward Brown on this Veterans Day.  Like many WWII Veterans, he never made a fuss about his military service either before the war on a Destroyers at Pearl Harbor or during the war in Brazil where he was on the crew of a PBY (submarine hunter).  He used to joke that he "learned to sail" during the war.  In fact, he was part of the effort to keep Brazil from German occupation and to get planes across the Atlantic to Europe (Brazil to Africa and then North to Europe being the shortest route).

He instilled a sense of patriotism and service in his children and whenever I look at this picture, I am moved. His name is inscribed behind the inspection plate on one of the eagles and when i am down there, I always think of him. He didn't live to see the Memorial erected but he was an avid fan of construction and would have loved to watch the Memorial being put together.  He was generous, adventuresome and never saw a situation that he didn't make better.

 

Central Iowa, August 11, 2009

As three hunderd and fifty citizens cheered and a band played, 404 Iowans took to the air this morning after a night of celebrations and banquets. When I arrived at the Memorial, forty or so Iowans who had flown out on commercial airplanes were already there and we waited together Fortunately, we had a ten degree break from yesterday's 99 degree weather and the breeze was pleasant.
Honor Flight had made arrangements for cheap airfare so they were able to accompany their loved ones on the trip.  They arrived about 11:30 in eleven buses and any fantasy I had of a group picture went out the door as they spilled out across the Memorial.  Senator Robert Dole arrived soon after followed by Senator Elizabeth Dole and surprisingly, Senator Dole actually did fifteen minutes and we got him out of the heat.  I'll bet you he greeted easily 100 plus veterans while Mrs. Dole charmed the crowd.  The pictures are available for personal use and can be downloaded at the WWII Memorial site.  George Kerestes, National Park Service volunteer, sent me the first five images. Dale Johnson in the wheelchair is 100 years old and the oldest veteran George has had the honor to welcome to the Memorial.

Sun eventually shines!

I arrived at the WWII Memorial to see a clump of plastic raincoats and umbrellas and there was Senator Dole in the midst of the early morning crowd.  The rain soon turned torrential and lightning began to strike and he and Mrs. Dole went to the car for a bit. We thought we would convince him to go home and we did but as he drove out, I noticed him looking over at the Memorial and the vets and I had this feeling he would be back.  I was right.  He smiled and said "I got a haircut..." meaning he had given us all the slip and was free to hang around the Memorial and hang he did for some two hours.  

And just as he returned, the clouds began to clear and five or six buses showed up and with them Jim McLaughln who pitched and took pictures with me.  Between the two of us, we must have gone through a couple of hundred photos and in the end the sun came out, the birds were chirping and it was sunnyville in DC!  I believe that Honor Flight is blessed with good weather and blessed with veterans who really don't care about the weather anyway.  It was just another great day on the Mall.  My new waterproof camera worked great as you can see in the accompanying photo pages.

Chicago Honor Flight: On the March!

The Windy City rolled into DC which should be renamed the "Soggy City" this year. There were ninety-one Veterans and another 90 guardians in blissful tow. They arrived at the Memorial a bit late in the afternoon because they had visited the other Memorials before they got to the WWII to enable the Veterans to appreciate the size of the WWII Memorial. It's eight acres certainly make it the largest of the Memorials and the location is so amazing that it took ten years of legal wrangling to finalize it!

I managed to get photographs of Mary, Jean Marie and Suzanne before they disappeared with their veterans. Today (and for the past few days), a father/son team has dressed in WWII garb to greet the vets.  I've got a few photos of them and will try to get their names for the next post. It's nice to see a father and son working together with the veterans.

I advise Chicago  (and will be glad to advise any Honor Flight) on photo storage and so have had the opportunity to witness "big city" Chicago at work. The committee on the phone conferences is forty-five to fifty people and they are Chicago's most connected. The meetings are run like clockwork so "60 minutes is an hour" and that's the end of the meeting.  They are so successful that 1500 citizens turn up to greet the veterans in Chicago.  A local TV station is doing a 30 minute piece for July 4th weekend.

Al Doehring, National Park Service volunteer, and I had the opportunity to spend some time together discussing the construction of the eagles. it may be time to start sorting through the 15,000 images I have of the construction to show more detail...and get that on a separate historical website....

Fred Wedhorns: Lone Eagle gets "Rock Star" Treatment

From Judy Lemmons, Honor Flight:

A BIG thank you to each one of you for the absolute "service before self" attitude you displayed this past weekend in support of one of our heroes, Mr Fred Wedhorn of Tucson Arizona.  This Lone Eagle wasn't lonely very long.
 
Every detail was thought of and executed with such compassion and patriotism that words cannot express the appreciation of the entire Honor Flight Network not to mention those of our Hero, Mr Wedhorn and his niece, Barbara.
 
I have heard from Barbara this morning and she has expressed over and over how unbelieveable it all was and that he went home knowing what a true Hero he is to all of us.  They are treating him like a "rock star" she said.  But a rock star doesn't come close to what kind of "star" he and the many thousands of "the Greatest Generation" truly are.  These are our Heroes, our role models.
 
And you are mine...I sent out a simple email asking for a volunteer driver to pick him up and escort him to the hotel Friday evening and it turned into a welcome and send-off befitting royalty.  You are each one to be commended for the role you played.  It will always be in your heart of hearts knowing that you gave to one 97 year old soldier, one last hurrah -- to visit HIS memorial.
 
With his arthritic hands held in salute to each one of you, and his heart filled with such utter joy at his experience, will give him hope and peace and at days end, he will know, he is appreciated for his service and sacrifice so many years ago on foreign soil and never forgotten.
 
My favorite quote, and I use it frequently, is very fitting for such a time as this...
 "They may not remember what you did.  They may not remember what you said.  But they will never forget the way you've made them feel.."
 
Thanks to each and everyone of you for "the way you made him feel."...
 
Sincerely and with great admiration and respect.
 Judy Lemmons
Dir, Public Relations/Protocol
Honor Flight Network

Brian Duffy on Honor Flight

We flew a trip on May 16, 2009 with the “regular” array of our WWII heroes. I ushered them through the normal choreography of visiting the WWII Memorial, Iwo Jima Marine Memorial and the Korean War Memorial… in one day.

 When we offloaded at the Korean Memorial, one of the veterans asked….”Brian, are we going to the Vietnam Memorial?”  “No I replied,” and further explained that the trip is aimed at those memorials more pertaining to the WWII veterans;  the Vietnam Wall was not on our agenda.  The crestfallen WWII veteran continued…”I was hoping to finally have a chance to see the Vietnam Wall….you see, my son was killed in Vietnam – I’ve never seen his name.”

I pulled my gut out from the depths that it had fled to, gained some composure, and told him “wait here.” I summoned one of our Guardians, Dan Gillespie, who served in the DC area for many years. I said “Dan, I have a tough mission for you,” as I explained to him what the WWII veteran has just shared with me.  Dan personally escorted the WWII veteran (and our bus) over to the Vietnam Wall. The Park Rangers, WWII veteran, Les Powers  and Iraq veteran, Dan Gillespie reached through time, and had a visit with Edward C. Powers, KIA Vietnam (pictures attached).

 As the sun sets on another Memorial Day, never underestimate the scope of the impact that we are having in Honor Flight! God Bless all of you for your noble efforts – good night.

 With Honor,

 Brian Duffy....

Honor Flight Bluegrass