Honor Flight Day Two

Breakfast at Congress

Today we woke up bright and early, and got on the bus. Our group was invited to Congress for breakfast with the Oregon Congressional Delegation! All of the Oregon Delegation had volunteers to be on the Honor Flight of Oregon Honorary Board, and they wanted to do more than just be involved in name only.

A wonderful young woman in Congressman Waldan’s office worked so hard to come up with idea of something neat for the Vets. Working with Senator Wyden’s office, they came up with a lovely breakfast. The delegation met all the vets and each member shared some special words – all of them were honest and open with the Vets and politics were left aside. At each place for every veteran was a special present – a folder containing a beautiful picture of the WWII Memorial and a letter that read:

Congressional Record
Proceedings and Debates of the 111th Congress, Second Session

House of Representatives
HON. Greg Walden
of Oregon
In The House of Representatives
Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Tribute to Honor Flight of Oregon

It goes on to explain what the program is, and all the names of the Veterans on this first flight. During his reading in front of us, Walden added in details about each of the Vets – he had taken the time to learn about them and get to know them before we started breakfast.

He read their names into the Congressional Record, and they will be recorded in the Library of Congress forever.

How amazing and touching is that? I currently have a copy for the official Honor Flight of Oregon Records that is going to be frames and kept in my parent’s house since that is the official office for us for now. I could scan the document, but as it has the names of the vets on it and I have to follow privacy policies set in place by national, I cannot legally do that – but trust me, it looks AMAZING!

Breakfast was followed by a tour of the Capitol Building. There were a lot of people, but the Vets really enjoyed seeing the building. In talking with them, a lot of them have been the D.C. in the past, but had NEVER been to the Capitol Building.

The World War II Memorial

After Congress we went tot he WWII Memorial. We gathered for a group picture in front of the Pacific Arc, and then made a precision to the Oregon Pillar. We held a small memorial service for those who could not be here with us, and one of our volunteers (one of my new friends) brought her father’s flag; he was a Vet of WWII and passed away in 2004 and never got the chance to see the memorial. My uncle, who is the president of Honor Flight of Northern California and who volunteered to help us on this trip, is also a layman pastor and he preformed a small ceremony. It was beautiful and touching.

Then we broke up into small groups and toured the memorial. I was with a gentleman from Northern Oregon; Bill S. is a 91 year-young Marine who served in the Pacific, and he was a blast to spend time with. I convinced him to use a wheelchair because he was tired and not feeling to well, and my excused was “Besides, when was the last time you were pushed around by a pretty girl?” – I got a laugh and a new grandpa.

We went around and looked at different aspects of the memorial, and at one point a young man came up to talk with him. He was just out of the Marines himself, and his little brother is in Afghanistan – and he saw Bill’s hat and came over to thank him. I stood there smiling like an idiot as they talked, and as this young man saluted Bill I thought my heart would burst from love.

While we were there another Veteran was stopped by a young lady. They were talking and she found out he had served in the Pacific – she asked him where, and he told her about the little island nation where was was stationed as a Marine. She got all excited and I heard her exclaim “That’s where I am from! Where were you stationed?” He told her the name of the village, and she was just about bouncing as she said “That is where I was born!” She threw her arms around him in a huge hug and said “Thank you for saving my country.”

Atlantic Arch

Pacific Arch

Entry to the Memorial

~There was a special service being held~

Inside each of the Arhces – Eagles

View to Washington

View to Lincoln

I found Kilroy!
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The Navy Memorial
We had a picnic lunch and took a short driving tour of downtown D.C. – by this time it was 90 and HUMID and we all needed some air.

The Navy Memorial is in downtown D.C. (why it is not close to the water, I do not know). And we stopped to take pictures. By this time I was not doing well because of the heat, and I was bit out of it. But I was talking with two Vets, one who was in the Navy and the other was in the Coast Guard (stationed in Alaska during the war) and we had fun throwing jokes back and forth.

Bronze Reliefs

The Lone Sailor – With Friends

Signal Flags

Sadly, because I was damn close to heat exhaustion I had to get back on the bus – where I did promptly pass out…shhhhhh – we’re not telling anyone on the trip about that; I woke back up and got water in me and took care of myself – we needed to focus on the Vets, not the little Alaskan wimp who can’t take the heat.

Marine Memorial: Iwo Jima

Our next stop was the Marine Memorial of Iwo Jima – and as my new grandpa is a Marine, and as it seemed about half of our vets were, we got off to take a look. Someone else took Bill’s chair, and I started taking pictures for him (digital camera was not really his friend).

As we were walking around and talking, I noticed a gentleman standing off in the trees a bit, so I went to talk to him. His daughter was on the trip as a guardian and she was getting some photos for him – as we were talking, I noticed that most of his right hand was gone. As it turns out, he lost it at Iwo Jima and he was having a bit of a hard time reliving the war in his mind. I looked up as we were talking, and my uncle was with another man, who was crying. This Vet is blind, all he can see is vague outlines – my uncle is actually trained to work with the blind, and he was walking around describing things to the vet J.C.

When the daughter of the Vet I was talking with came back, I went over to check on my uncle and I found out that J.C. was also at Iwo Jima. He saw the flag raised, and it was one of the last things he saw – he lost his sight to gunfire the next day.

As my uncle was helping him, I walked back to the Vet I had been talking with, and he asked what was going on with J.C. – and I told him. I watched as he quickly walked up to J.C. and gave him a hug, and they started talking about being at Iwo Jima, and what they had been through. I stood with his daughter and she fought back tears, “Dad’s never talked about it with anyone really.”

Close ups of Memorial

Sunlit

Some of our Marines

Air Force Memorial

We then went to the Air Force memorial. It was the one place I had not gone last time, and because I was ill from the heat I was a bit raw.

I had a new friend, Ed S. was in a chair full time and has cataracts and could not see well, so I was describing the memorial to him. He noticed that my voice was choked up, and I told him about my grandpa being in the Army Air Corp and passing away in 2001. He was such a patient man.

We didn’t stay very long, but it was beautiful. It is on a hill that overlooks almost all of D.C. and the view was spectacular. On this trip we had five Army Air Corp Vets, including one man who was in the 101st Air Born Screaming Eagles, who was dropped on the beach in Normandy. And another gentleman who was a transport pilot attached to the same divisions my grandfather was in, we smiled when he told me he probably transported my grandfather around.

Signifying Flight

A forever Color Guard

The Missing Man

It was a long, hot day – but it was wonderful. After dinner we went back to the hotel, and I stayed up late talking with my cousin who volunteered on this trip as a guardian. We were up until nearly 2am just talking – AND my Navy and Coast Guard buddies were up just as late, and they closed the bar 🙂

It was a great day and I think everyone enjoyed it.