An honor I will never forget

Dear fellow American,

I have to write to you and share the wonderful experience I was privileged to share with 29 other vets recently. He was truly humble and emotional. I have no idea how I was chosen, but I got a call from a lady saying that I was recommended to go on this flight to the WWII memorial in Washington. At first, I declined because I didn’t feel worthy of being included since I served after the war ended. But she asked me some questions and when she found out I actually listed in February. ’45 when she was 17 years old and I wasn’t called up for duty until August, that she was entitled to the honor. She insisted and since (luckily I’m not a girl, I can’t say no) I accepted.

Well, it was something I will never forget and I want to share with you. I had to be at the meeting place in Catskill by 6:00, so that meant getting up at 4:00 am From the moment I got there, I was treated like royalty. We got on a bus that would take us to the airport. There were 10 guys on motorcycles and 2 police cars escorting us. Although it was very early, as we passed through different towns there were people waving flags and cheering us on. The same thing happened at the airport. They had organized a reception there. People kept shaking our hands and thanking us for our service. When we boarded the plane we were allowed to board before everyone else. Even the pilot welcomed us aboard on the intercom. Of course, we were served coffee, pastries, rolls, etc. When we arrived at the airport, there were 2 fire trucks that dropped water and escorted the plane to the gate. When we landed again there was a crowd of people waving flags and clapping. He was really humble and emotional. I couldn’t help crying. We got on a bus and again got roast beef sandwiches and drinks.

They even played songs from our time…Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra, etc. on the bus.

We arrive at the memorial which is again very impressive. They assigned tutors (younger volunteers) to each 3 of us who were constantly with us giving us bottled water and making sure all our needs were met. We went to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and again had the privilege of seeing the changing of the guard. How about this? The soldiers who patrolled the tomb, dragged a foot in a special way to honor us. If you have never seen the tomb it is very impressive. There is a respectful silence and a kind of special aura. After that we were taken on a tour of Washington to see all the monuments and special places.

We finally took the bus back to the airport and were greeted there in the same way. We had dinner at the airport and then flew back to Albany. At that time it was 10:00 pm and I was a bit tired. But I got a big boost when they announced the call in the mail and to my surprise there were letters from my children along with several others.

Of course there were more tears of joy and gratitude then.

One of the good things about this was seeing my teammates, some of them in their 90s, getting the recognition they deserve. Some of them are true heroes.

So, it’s something I want to share with you. It gives me hope for our country. Sometimes I tend to get cynical about all the bad news… but it helped me realize that there are still many, many true Americans and there is certainly reason to be optimistic about our future. We are called the “Greatest Generation”. I believe that every American generation is the best generation. That is what makes this country special.

Thank you for sharing it with me.