Honor Flight for WWII Vets

Today, my Great Uncle Jim is among the World War II veterans from the Twin Cities who has been selected to go to Washington, D.C. for the day. This free gift is given by a non-profit organization called "Honor Flight," which made as its goal to give each veteran of World War II a free daytrip to the nation's capital to view the memorial honouring them and their fallen comrades of that last great moral war. I never heard about such a group until my cousin Anita emailed me about her father's trip (in which she gets to go with him as a paid chaperone).

Here's the itinerary for the veterans:

They fly out of the Twin Cities early Saturday morning on a chartered airplane. They board a bus and see the Iwo Jima Memorial and the Women's Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery (with lunch aboard the bus). In the afternoon, the bus takes them on a tour of downtown Washington, with drive-bys of the Pentagon, Air Force Memorial, Smithsonian Museum, U.S. Capitol, the Supreme Court, the Navy Memorial, White House, and the Washington Monument.

From 2:30 until 4 p.m. is a flag and wreath service at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall. Once that's finished, they will get back on the bus to head over to the Korean and Vietnam War Memorials as well as the Lincoln Memorial. Then a meal at some steak restaurant (I love the taste of steak...which reminds me, I never had my "last supper" before I adopted my ban on eating beef). After that packed day, they fly out of Dulles in the late evening and arrive back in the Twin Cities by 11 p.m. for a "Welcome Home reception" at the airport.

I like that an organization is doing this for our veterans of the second World War. Unfortunately, my grandfather never had this opportunity. In the last few years of my grandmother's life before she passed away in 2005, she never wanted to travel anywhere like she normally did. My grandfather could not see very well in the last few years of his life.

His younger brother, though, is a young 86, healthy and fit for his age. The only thing about his trip that bothers me is that I'm not there in D.C. to go out to the memorial to visit with him. Had I stayed in D.C. back in 2000, I would most likely be able to do that. But, I saw him at my sister's wedding and hopefully, I'll see him again sometime next year.

Anita had emailed people requesting that we write "v-mail" letters to the veterans. She emailed us a copy of the form these "v-mail" looked like back in the 1940s. The veterans will be given the "v-mails" during the flight to D.C. Of course, I had to write one for my great uncle. I wanted to write one for another veteran as well, but I was almost late getting the v-mail back to my cousin so she can surprise her father with it. I'm sure he'll have plenty of letters to read on the flight, besides mine. I tried to make mine funny because I love trying to make him laugh. Great Uncle Jim is the family comedian. When I was a kid, I thought Bill Cosby was the black version of my Great Uncle because they have the same personality, sense of humour, and even mannerisms and facial expressions.

Above is an artist's rendition of the World War II Memorial on the National Mall (with the Lincoln Memorial in the background) that I found online. When I was in D.C., there were just starting to construct it so I haven't seen it yet. My dad said that he wasn't too impressed with it. He, like me, thinks the Korean War Memorial is the best one. Based on photos, it looks majestic but not awe-inducing. Maybe its because I've seen an awesome memorial in Normandy. That's hard to beat. But, if I make it to D.C. in the spring, I plan to see this memorial (as well as the Holocaust museum). I love the diversity of all the memorials in our great capital city. For many decades, our country has had an inferiority complex about our national capital not measuring up to the grand capital cities of Europe. However, I don't think that's the case anymore. The layout of the District of Columbia is awesome and it is perhaps my second favourite American city (after San Francisco). I miss D.C. Like I said, I wish I had never left in 2000. That was the worst mistake of my life. I would love a job offer that would bring me back to D.C. for a satisfying career.

The above photo is one of my favourites of Great Uncle Jim. It was taken on his wedding day, with his getaway vehicle that someone decorated. He was married in 1950 in Minneapolis to a beautiful young lady of Scandinavian heritage (Great Uncle Jim's mother is from Eskiltuna, Sweden). As a young man, Jim looked a lot like George Clooney (we have family photos to prove it). He has a great extroverted personality (in contrast with his older brother--my grandpa--who was more introverted) and a fantastic sense of humour. It is no wonder why Jim is the star of our family. He is by far the most popular and well-loved member of the family. Everybody loves him and wants to be around him.

In case you're wondering where my "popularity" ranks among family members, it doesn't. I'm probably one of the most outspoken, certainly the most political, and beyond that, I have the honourable distinction of having traveled to the most countries and being the only one who has crossed the equator. I'm fine with those "claims to fame" in my family...but Jim can have the popularity. His personality practically warrants it. I remember my dad once saying that as a boy, he often wished he had Jim for a father than his own. I don't think he feels that way anymore, because our parents do shape who we become and what we do in life. Jim's so well loved by his own children that both of them did not move far away. They all stayed in Bloomington, in the same neighbourhood even.

The other photo I have features Great Uncle Jim in his Army uniform (he's the guy on the left). In World War II, Jim was a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne and jumped in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. He landed in a pasture and startled the French cows. At the Battle of the Bulge, his unit was under fire by the Germans and were threatened with annihilation if not for the 5th Armored Calvary Regiment breaking through to save them. My grandfather was part of that saving force. If things hadn't worked out the way they did, my family would have never gotten to know someone like Jim, which is a horrible thing to contemplate. He is perhaps the one individual that I'm glad to have known all my life. I feel honoured just being related to him.

At my grandfather's funeral in May, I asked Great Uncle Jim to share some good secrets about his brother. But he wouldn't do it. Loyalty remains, even in death. But its a shame. My grandfather left behind no journals, no letters, no tape recordings, and he told very little about his life. I wanted something, anything, to humanize grandpa for me. My memories of him is of a somewhat grouchy man who didn't say much. Oh, he knew how to make me laugh and it was fun to hear him argue with my grandma. But I wanted to know what grandpa was like as a young man. Fortunately, cousin David told me a good story about his Uncle Jack. My grandpa flagged down a German who was driving in Austria and confiscated the car because Germans were subject to searches during the occupation. Grandpa went on a joyride with his brother until he returned to base and had to give up the car. Another thing I learned from cousin David was that grandpa had a foul mouth as a young man. According to Great Uncle Jim, grandpa changed a lot when he married my grandma. Of course, I owe my family heritage to my grandma, who was third generation RLDS (now called the Community of Christ).

When I was a young boy, and people in my church taught that we were the one true church, and that members in our church would be saved, I had asked if Great Uncle Jim was a member. I did not understand why he and his family were not members of our church. Because my grandparents, parents, uncles (and the women they married), and cousins all belonged to the same church, I assumed that our entire family were members. It was one of the first disheartening realizations of youth that one of my favourite people was not a member. Thus, his lack of membership was one of the first inklings I had that there is no such thing as one true church that everyone had to be a member of in order to be saved.

Great Uncle Jim is a long-attending member of the Fort Snelling Memorial Chapel, which is a general protestant church with strong ties to the military tradition. He truly belongs with that church group and I've attended a few times with him and his wife, Effie. His children aren't interested in religion, though. And I must admit that there are still moments when I wish that he was a member of the Community of Christ. Family ties to the same religion is a good thing, even if our views are different. Its my loyalty to the family church that has kept me from joining another church more closely aligned with my beliefs. Thus why I'm glad that grandpa wasn't insistent about his wife joining his Methodist church. In terms of religion, my grandma won that battle and I owe many of my blessings in life to that fact.

The above photo is of my cousin Anita and her dad at the United Methodist Church in Grant Park on the day of my sister's wedding this past May. Neither of Great Uncle Jim's children married or had children, which is a shame because Great Uncle Jim would have loved grandchildren. But, since I never got to know my mother's side of the family, I always viewed Great Uncle Jim and Great Aunt Effie as my second pair of grandparents.

In a recent phonecall to Great Uncle Jim, I told him that he had to outdo his brother (and two sisters) and live beyond 90. I keep telling him, "triple digits! Think triple digits!" He says that he doesn't want to live that long. He's only 86, a "spring chicken", I told him. He's the family patriarch now. I want him to live long. He's the last of his generation in our family. And the family's superstar. What would we do without him?