Honor Air veteran describes the trip to Washington, D.C.

Police escort, welcome home make vets feel like national treasure

By Jack Fortes
SPECIAL TO THE BEACON

posted May 19, 2008 - 1:59:00pm

Washington, D.C., some say, is a mess politically, but 100 World War II veterans from West Volusia found it beautiful, exciting and full of memories during the inaugural flight of Honor Air May 17.

The trip was sponsored by three West Volusia Rotary Clubs, with Bill Mancinik as host leader. It was an all-expenses-paid trip for the grateful vets.

It was hard to determine who was the most grateful — the vets enjoying the trip, or the 30 or so Rotary guardians, who bent over backward to honor the vets.

From the World War II memorial early in the day to the Iwo Jima memorial at day’s end, veterans looked, cried and remembered.

Seasoned vets who have seen and participated in military parades knew they were not in a parade, as such, but felt important as all get-out, as a motorcycle-and-squad-car escort led the three bus loads of West Volusia veterans and their guardians time and again through busy Washington streets.

A 3:30 a.m. phone call from Rotary Guardian Warren Todd jolted Dick Westervelt and this writer from bed Saturday morning. Sleepy, but excited, we neighbors jumped into Warren’s SUV and headed for Daytona Beach International Airport.

After a light breakfast, our group boarded a U.S. Airways jet and departed at 8:20 a.m. We would not see the Daytona Beach Airport again until landing at 9:38 p.m. that night.

“Wow,” members of the group said, as they saw smartly dressed motocycle police line up outside Ronald Reagan Airport to lead the veterans' three-bus caravan to the World War II Memorial at one end of the reflecting pool, opposite the Lincoln Memorial.

Congressman John Mica, waiting with a brass band and other greeters at the airport, accompanied the group throughout the day, including his hosting a delicious lunch at the Capitol Hill Club.

A surprise visit came from former senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole, who was mobbed by the vets for pictures and hand-shaking at the World War II Memorial.

Two other highlights were the morning photo of the group on the steps of the Capitol, and the afternoon wreath ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

Almost on time the entire day, we followed our 23-point itinerary. The police escort took a wrong turn a couple of times; luckily, our lead bus driver knew the way.

The excitement and honoring of the vets were not over, even when we came home. Although our flight was almost an hour late, at nearly 10 p.m., we found Elks Club members and others from East Volusia and West Volusia, holding signs proclaiming "Our Heroes," who clapped and hooted to welcome us home at the arrival area of the Daytona Beach Airport.

As if enough tears of gratitude had not been shed earlier in the day, a few more came, at least to my eyes, in response to this wonderful expression of gratitude to our group of weary, happy vets.

— info@beacononlinenews.com

Reader Comments

The comments posted below are posted by readers, not by The Beacon staff. These comments express the views and opinions of the authors, and not the administrators, moderators or webmaster. The comments forum is governed by these rules. Please use the report abuse link if you find offensive comments.

Comment on this article

Commenting is closed for this article.

If you would like to contribute a letter to the editor, please click here.

Did you find this story interesting or informative? Subscribe to The DeLand-Deltona Beacon to read more stories by Jack Fortes, along with others from our award-winning writers. Subscribe now!