World War II veterans see their national memorial
By Heather Thorstensen
hthorstensen@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 06/10/2010 2:40 PM
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LUVERNE, Minn.— Communities in southwest Minnesota pulled together this year to send 110 World War II veterans to Washington, D.C., and its World War II Memorial.
Their trip, April 30 to May 1, marked the first Honor Flight from their area.
The Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization with regional hubs across the country. The hubs raise money and organize free flights to send World War II veterans to see the memorial. The first flight was in 2005, after the memorial was dedicated in 2004. Last year, the network sent 17,832 veterans.
Honor Flight Southwest Minnesotabecame an official hub in February.
John DeYonge, a farmer from Hadley, was on their first flight. He served in the Navy from 1945 to 1946, stationed in the South Pacific.
This was his first trip to the nation's capital. The World War II Memorial seemed enormous.
"It's really unexplainable, to see something like that you've never seen before and never thought it was possible (to see it)," he said.
The veterans plus 52 "guardians," people who assisted the veterans and paid their own way, traveled on three buses, colored red, white and blue. The first day, they saw the Air Force Memorial, the Marine Corps War Memorial, the changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetery and enjoyed a banquet. The second day, they visited the World War II Memorial as well as the Korean War Veterans Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Navy Memorial plus the National Air and Space Museum near Dulles International Airport.
Bud Ackerman of Beaver Creek had been waiting for a chance to go on an Honor Flight through a South Dakota hub for a while before the southwest Minnesota group formed.
"All in all, the whole flight was about as wonderful as you could get it," he said.
Ackerman was 19 years old when he was sent to Japan through the Army's Medical Corps to work as a cook in a hospital. It was 1946, after the end of the war.
"We had to take the place of those that went before us," he said.
He returned to the United States in April 1947, and married Mary Ann the very next month. They took over the family farm, where they still live. Bud retired from farming around 1990.
This wasn't Ackerman's first trip to Washington, but it was the first time he saw the World War II Memorial.
"It's really a privilege in order to be able to go," he said. "...Not everybody's going to get that opportunity, either, but anybody that has a chance, I hope they are able to go and see it because, you know, it's something that's been a long time coming and it's a pleasure you know, and a privilege to see it," he said.
People approached the veterans in Washington to thank them for their service. At the World War II Memorial, a group of school children visiting on a field trip made them posters and cards.
Dean Schied, 91, of Mountain Lake, another veteran on the trip, never expected to see people lined up at the airports to send them off or see them return home.
"I really didn't expect anything like that," he said. "...I felt they were showing an honor to us, what we did and also we're honoring the ones that didn't come back, and I thought it was very impressive. I'll never forget it."
Schied was stationed in the Philippines with the infantry from 1944 to 1946. He earned two Purple Hearts, returned to Minnesota, got married and bought and ran a movie theater until about 1960. After that, he worked for the Postal Service until retirement.