Honor Flight WWII Memorial - July 28 2009

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For those of you that don't know, there is a great program called "Honor Flight". It is dedicated to flying WWII veterans to DC to see the WWII Memorial that was constructed in their honor. Believe it or not, but the memorial has only been available since 2004 so there are LOTS of WWII veterans all over the US that have not had a chance to come see it yet. I volunteered to spend the day with a WWII vet and show them around the memorial, share military stories, and to show my thanks and appreciation. It was a phenomenal experience and I'm glad that I got to do it. I will most likely volunteer again next time the Honor Flight group brings more vets out this way.

So here are some pics of my day and a little commentary about them.

We showed up several hours early to set up. It was pretty much right in the middle of the DC mall and we had the WWII Memorial right behind us, the Washington Monument just to the right, and the Lincoln Memorial off to the left. Great location. Here's some setup pics.

So with the setup done, I got a chance to walk around and do some sight-seeing myself.

Washington Monument:

Lincoln Memorial off in the distance:

Some friends I made along the way to the Lincoln Monument:

A little closer pic:

 

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I've been to DC in uniform a few times and it's actually a very moving and emotional experience. I got TONS of handshakes, "thank you" 's, and an almost celebrity style treatment with people asking to take pictures with me and stuff like that. It seems more prevalent around the war memorials and rightfully so. I am just filling in where my previous soldiers left off and they deserve all the credit, but since I'm there people tend to give me the credit instead. It's flattering and I'm honored but I never forget who paved the way for stuff like that. It's something I can't explain, but it boosts my faith in America and that I made the right decision joining the military in the first place. It's like nothing else.

Today was no exception, but there happened a group called "GYLC" which stands for Global Youth Leaders Conference. There were TONS of youth (about 13-18y.o.) from all over the world visiting all the monuments and taking pictures. Well, when a group of US soldiers showed up, they went picture crazy and started asking all kinds of questions and basically just wanted to interact with us as much as possible. It was great to see so many enthusiastic youth with a positive mindset from all over the world. I don't have any pictures of this, because we were the ones in the pictures, but I think we left them with an overall great outlook towards American soldiers and some good memories that they will take with them forever.

After the whole massive photo-shoot taken with all the GYLC kids, we finally made it into the Lincoln Memorial. I took a few pictures with one of my SSG co-workers. Of course, everyone else with cameras in there was snapping pics like crazy of the soldiers in front of the memorial but that's cool.

And the view from the Lincoln Memorial:

And the Capitol building off to the left of the Washington Monument:

Then a Presidential helicopter flew by:

Then we made our way to the Vietnam Memorial. I can't begin to explain how massive the list is of fallen soldiers from that war. These pictures don't come anywhere close to doing it any justice.

This is at the base of the flag pole in front of the Vietnam Memorial:

The famous statue of soldiers:

And the actual memorial. Again, I can't stress how massive the list of names is on these walls.

 

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Here's the actual WWII Memorial.

And the base of the flagpoles in front of the WWII Memorial:

The flags there - US Flag and POW/MIA Flag:

The view directly across the street from the WWII Memorial:

More of the memorial:

And this is for all of the fallen US soldiers in the war. Each star represents 100 soldiers that died. Over 4,400 stars there so you do the math!

And the inscription in the front which you can't see in the pics - "HERE WE SHOW THE PRICE OF FREEDOM"

And the view from inside the memorial:

 

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This is at the side entry points for the memorial. It's the actual medal WWII vets received for their efforts in the war.

More of the memorial:

And this is a commonly seen image for military members from that time-frame. It's not common knowledge that this little guy can be found on the memorial. Usually brings a smile to the face of a WWII vet.

 

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These are some of the only pictures I have of my time with WWII vet named Kasmir Klapp who was a SSG during the war. I can't begin to tell you how many awesome stories he has from his time in the war. The pictures he has of him with Gen. Eisenhower and Gen. Patton, plus some personal stories he has related to his time with them and in the military in general. For a 92 year old veteran, he was certainly in good health and in good spirits! It was pretty warm out there today and he refused to take off his jacket. He insisted on being in uniform the whole day and was actually the only one there in a full uniform. Everyone else had the yelow-ish shirts on that you will see in some of the pics. He looks back very fondly of his time in the military before and during WWII and was not afraid to show it. He was by far the "most popular" vet there....mainly for his age, his uniform and all the decorations he received....and rightfully so.

He shipped out from Ohio so it was only appropriate to get a picture of him under the Ohio reef:

And this was by far the most touching moment of the day. He actually got all teary-eyed looking at all these stars and thinking about the buddies he lost all those many years ago. Kinda shows that the bond you create with people you trust your life to never dies.

Another good one across from the wall of stars:

He got tired of sitting in the wheelchair, so he decided to stand up and do a little walking around and take some pics. Here's a good one with the Lincoln Memorial in the background:

Behind him is a list of some of the most defining battles of WWII and he was actually in a few of them. He told me some stories about his participation in the Battle at Tunisia so it only seemed right to get a pic of him next to it. Of course he wanted to stand for the picture.

And one right by the center fountain with the Pacific side in the background which seemed fitting since he was station at Hawaii before leaving for the war.

And the last picture I have is with him next to the "hidden" Kilroy engraving:

It seemed like he was just grateful to be there and to get a chance to see the memorial and also to chat with fellow vets and with the military of today. The more of the monument he saw, the more energetic he became. Towards the end he did not want to sit in the wheelchair at all and of course, he refused to take the uniform off even though there was a good chance of dehydration today. He's probably just as stubborn as I am.


This was an incredible experience! It makes me appreciate our American heritage, the heritage of the Army, and the sacrifices that people have made to give us what we have today. Sure it's not perfect, but imagine how screwed up it would be if people like Kasner Klapp didn't step up and do their part to make things better.

If you ever get a chance to see the monuments in DC, please keep stories like this in your mind when looking at them. It gives the monuments a whole new meaning and a more powerful impact. Until you can associate an actual real life name or face with a monument, it's really nothing more than stone. Absolutely amazing experience!



I did some searching for additional information about the Honor Flight Program and ran across a News video with Kasmir Klapp in it! Very cool guy! Here's the video:
http://www.toledoonthemove.com/news/video.aspx?id=330692

Also, for more information about the Honor Flight program, to make donations, or to sign up as a volunteer, please visit the official website here:
http://www.honorflight.org/

 

[khurley424]

im jealous, that looks like an absolutely amazing experience. One of my cousin's grandparents was the ball-turret gunner in a liberator in the pacific, i used to love to listen to his stories about various missions he was on and experiences he had during the war, but hes since passed on.


p.s. thank you for your service to the country.

 

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It was awesome. I'm glad I got to do it and will do it again if I have the opportunity to.

 

[smithboy76908]

Man, I really wanted to go down there with you guys. I just had too much work to get caught up on. Definitely gonna try to help out with this next time. Awesome pics Patrick.

and speaking of pics of acclude...

 

[Cheesenip]

I want to shake your hand tomorrow. Thank you sir.

BTW: My dads name is engraved on a military memorial in New york. I ve rarley seen that man tear up in 23yrs, and the one did it to him.