Inaugural flight to World War II Memorial a success

What does Earl Morse, a physician assistant and retired Air Force captain in Ohio, have to do with Fayette County?

In 2004 he conceived the idea that honoring veterans he had taken care of for 27 years deserved the opportunity to visit the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. From that idea came Honor Flight, a program to fly World War II veterans to see it, free of charge. To date, over 800 veterans – who probably otherwise would not have been able to do so – have been able to see the memorial. The organization has a mission; to fly as many of these veterans to see the memorial and to take them as quickly as possible and absolutely for free.

In 2007 Gail Sparrow, a retired Fayette County history teacher, heard about the Honor Flight program and decided to implement this network organization in the area she knew so well.
Last October, Sparrow began putting together Honor Flight Fayette, and in December a notice went out to newspapers asking for veterans to apply for the first trip. To date, nearly 200 applications have been received.

On Wednesday, May 14, 74 of these heroes were flown free of charge to see the memorial. The current president of Honor Flight Network is Jim McLaughlin. He was on the flight and said that he always goes on each inaugural flight to be sure it meets the national standards. He commented that, of all those he had been on, this one was the best organized inaugural flight.

The national association has called those who accompany the veterans "guardians." They must attend classes to learn their responsibilities. Family members cannot go along, unless they become a guardian, and take the responsibility for several veterans.

Guardians must also pay their own way, as well as the medical personnel who must also go. In the Fayette flight, there were four paramedics, a doctor and two nurses. The nurses also served as guardians. The fee for the Fayette flight was $400. The $30,000 raised for the veterans to fly free was strictly donations raised in Fayette County. The fees included air fair, meals, charter buses, a T-shirt and each veteran got a disposable camera.

The group assembled at 5:30 a.m. at the Fayetteville First United Methodist Church for a breakfast provided by Chick-fil-A. A saber group from Sandy Creek High School stood with sabers raised as the veterans boarded buses to the airport.

A notice went out for Fayette Countians to line the street by the church to clap and cheer as the buses headed out. There were about 150 Fayette Countians who heeded the call and adding those at the Atlanta International Airport, and the Reagan International Airport, both coming and going, about 500 people had formed a line honoring those from our area who served in World War II.

To quote Will Rogers, “We can’t all be heroes. Some of us have to stand on the curb and clap as they go by.”

After landing at Reagan, the airport fire department placed a fire truck on either side of the airplane and gave a Water Canon Salute, both when arriving and when leaving.

The veterans then boarded buses and headed to the World War II Memorial. The granite column to Georgians was quickly found and pictures were taken. A flag that had flown over the capital was received and the veterans proudly held it to have their picture taken.

Senators Johnny Isaacson and Saxby Chambliss visited the group and provided more photo opportunities.

The memorial was first conceived 17 years ago, but a 13-year legal battle ensued due to the plans having it sit higher than it does now. It would have despoiled the direct sight from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument. The site was lowered and the memorial was officially dedicated Memorial Day weekend in 2004. It received more than $195 million in cash and pledges with $16 million of this provided by the federal government.

It contains 53 granite columns, one for each state, plus three possessions. Sixteen million United States servicemen served, over 400,000 of whom died, in World War II. There is a wall with 400 gold stars, each presenting a thousand men killed and a group photo of the Fayette flight was taken at this wall.

It must be noted that an estimated 1,200 World War II veterans are dying daily. The ages of those on the Fayette flight were from 82 to 92 years.

Lunch was served outdoors near the memorial and the weather cooperated the whole day. Supper that evening was in the USO lounge at the Reagan airport.

It was back on the plane at 7 p.m. and arrival back at the church was about 10:30 p.m.

As a personal note, I was privileged to go with this inaugural historic flight and I would like to comment that over half of our veterans on board would not have been able to see the World War II Memorial if it weren’t free, and that is what this program is all about.

Honor Flight Fayette is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, and it welcomes your donations. Its address is Honor Flight Fayette Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 1209, Fayetteville, GA 30214. Its website is www.honorflightfayette.org.

Those officers who went above and beyond to bring the flight about are president Gail Sparrow, vice president Mark Buckner, treasurer Allen Smith, secretary Jo Springer and assistant secretary Brenda Smith.

These folks, along with 28 guardians, paramedics Steve Folden, Norman Gibby, Jeff Swader, Jason Crenshaw and Dr. Chuck Bergstrom, are heroes too.

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