ATHENS — Seven area men say the best part about taking Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., was being treated like “royalty” or “rock stars.”

Honor Flight, a program sponsored by The Huntsville Times and WAFF Channel 48, began in 2007 flying World War II veterans to Washington free of charge on chartered airliners to visit the National World War II Memorial.

The seven took the eighth flight on Aug. 29. The ninth scheduled flight is Oct. 24.

The World War II Memorial, dedicated in 2004, honors the 16 million who served in the armed forces of the U.S., the more than 400,000 who died, and all who supported the war effort from home.



Richard Beck

Navy

“Leaving Huntsville and coming back to Huntsville, the best parts,” said Richard Beck, 85, a Navy veteran. “These are just wonderful people. They came out at 4 a.m. to see us off and they were back at 9:30 p.m. to welcome us back.

“I was just overwhelmed, I mean I was all choked up. I felt like a rock star coming home.”

Honor Flight passengers are treated to a ceremony and music from a band before embarking on the daylong excursion. Friends and family see them off and come back in even greater numbers to line the concourse as the honorees deplane. They are met with hugs, kisses, handshakes and a heartfelt “thank-you” for their service to their nation nearly 70 years ago.

Beck said he never made it overseas, but was aboard a minesweeper on this side.

“I’m just so glad all of these veterans are getting to go up there and see the memorial,” he said.



Lewie Brooks

Army

Lewie Brooks, 87, said he nearly didn’t send in an application for Honor Flight.

“I didn’t want to go, but my wife talked me into it and I had a fine time,” said Brooks. “It was just all good. I enjoyed seeing the changing of the guard at Arlington.”

Brooks also did not make it overseas during the war but served as a military policeman in posts across the U.S.

“When they died, I carried them home to their families,” he said. “And when they deserted, I went and got them.”

Brooks said he was “fixing to go (overseas) when they dropped the bomb and they called it off.”

He said he had taken training as a medical corpsman and had heard that the Japanese were shooting the medics in the field.

“I had joined in 1940,” said Brooks. “I was supposed to got to Pearl Harbor but I got hurt during training. The ship I was supposed to leave on was sunk.”



Thurman Burns

Army

Thurman Burns hadn’t been to Washington since 1979 and says a lot has changed. The WWII Memorial had not been built yet.

“It’s really impressive,” said Burns. “The simplicity of it was the first thing that struck me and when it is put all together it is awesome. There are these surrounding columns and each one represents a state. There is a pool and fountains and a view from the memorial to other memorials.”

Burns was not a combat veteran, he said, coming in on the last of the war.

“Hearing the stories of those who were in combat is such an interesting thing and on this trip too,” he said.

Burns said the bus in which he was riding on the Arlington tour broke down and those veterans did not get to go on to see the Korean War Veterans Memorial.



Theo Calvin

Army

“I had a young lady to escort me everywhere we would go,” said Theo Calvin, 87, an officer who is proud of the fact he “never lost a man” as he led men in battle across Europe. “Soldiers would salute us and everyone was as nice as they could be to us. I had my photo made with Bob Dole.

“We thought we couldn’t go to Arlington because of the burial of Sen. Kennedy, but they couldn’t fly out of Boston because of the weather and so we went in and were gone by the time they got there.”

Calvin said five of the veterans who were scheduled to be on the eighth Honor Flight died between the time they were notified three months ago and Aug. 29.

“The day is kind of hard on you, but I’m glad I went.”



Charles Christopher

Army

“I loved the whole day—it was just fine,” said Charles Christopher of Elkmont. “The World War II Memorial was great and I wanted to see the Korean Memorial, but the bus broke down. That cemetery, Arlington, just goes all over the hill.”

Christopher had never before visited Washington.

“The first time, I went through there on a troop train but I never went downtown,” he said.

He said he was surprised at the reception the veterans received.

“I never saw so many people waiting on us,” he said. “I had a woman who pushed me around all day. We had dinner at the U.S. Army’s Women’s Museum. But I sure would like to go back and see the Korean War Memorial.”



Dempsey Moore

Army Air Forces

“It would be hard to point out what was my favorite thing of the day,” said Dempsey Moore, 87. “The World War II Memorial was the best one, but maybe I’m just prejudiced. We couldn’t have asked to be treated any better. I told my wife it was like we were royalty.”

Moore said he didn’t seriously consider applying for Honor Flight until his son encouraged him.

“He said, ‘Daddy, you ought to go. We donated money to the World War II Memorial.”

Moore said he went into the Army Infantry where he received his two promotions — private first class and corporal. But then he transferred into the Army Air Forces where he was trained first as a B-17 mechanic and then a B-29 mechanic. He said he was set to be shipped overseas when doctors found something wrong with his ears.

Moore was serving at White Sands near Alamogordo, N.M., when returning from weekend pass on a bus in the middle of the night he saw a bright flash in the sky.

“We didn’t know what it was but it lit up the whole sky and you could read a newspaper by it,” he said. “We were told later that they tested the atomic bomb.”



Frank Pitruzzello

Army

“It was just overwhelming,” said Frank Pitruzzello, 84. “I didn’t deserve it.”

Pitruzzello called the send off and the homecoming of Honor Flight “moving.”

“People were all lined up and shaking our hands,” he said. “We went right through security so I didn’t have to take my shoes off or look for a pair of socks without a hole.”

He said his guardian in Washington was “a young lady I’d like to adopt.”

Pitruzello was born in the Bronx, but has lived in the South since 1952 when he came to Eglin Air Force Base in Ft. Walton Beach, Fla.

“I didn’t get sent to Europe until the end of the war,” he said. “I was lucky not to get into any big engagement, so that’s why I say I didn’t deserve (Honor Flight). But the offer came up and I took it.”