Today I'm heading to DC with Steve's intern Justin. I know, I do that every day for work, but this time it's for something fun! I ,along with many other guardians, nurses, greeters, and even paramedics, are taking 89 WW II veterans around to see the memorials dedicated to them. Since we are loosing an average of 1000 WW II veterans a day, this is an important service.
So, into the Jeep I went at the unholy hour of 0500 and, after a few wrong turns (no surprise), Justin and I made it to Dulles to start the day. As I never served in the military, I don't have a uniform to wear so I got an avocado green shirt to put on identifying me as a guardian. Nurses wear red ones so we can easily find them. Very helpful.
After a brief orientation, it was time to meet our veterans! When their plane arrived, two firetrucks gave them a salute usually reserved for retiring pilots: the created an arch of water over the plane as it taxied to the gate. We had some Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts along with many other, some bearing signs, here to help us welcome them. They were all surprised to receive such a warm welcome.
Once I met Bill Barnard, the veteran I got to spend my day with, we headed to our bus. Once there, I handed him the challenge coins I had gotten from friends and coworkers: Army Veteran (he served in the Army), WW II Veteran, FBI, and US Marshals. He was very excited and said he would build a display case for them.
Once everyone was loaded, we were off! With DC traffic, we had some time to talk before our first talk. Bill, now 91, was in college studying economics in 1943 when he was called to serve in the Army. He was part of the 71st Infantry Division and travelled through France, Germany, and Austria. When he completed his service in 1946, he went back to school to complete his BA in economics and then went on to law school under the GI Bill. Though he passed the bar, he never practiced law. Instead, he took over the family construction business upon his father's death.
As it took so long to load everyone into the bus, we had to content ourselves with driving around the Iwo Jima monument and not stopping by it. Bill told me the story that there were 13 hands raising the American flag with the 13th hand being the hand of God. Though this appears to be an urban legend, I like Bill's version better.
Our first stop was the WW II memorial. A congressman from Illinois was there to welcome our veterans. We had some time before the ceremony to honor them started so Bill and I walked around to find the column with his state displayed on it. We also went to the wall of stars where each star represents 100 lives lost during the war. Bill paraphrased one author saying that we all wrote a blank check to the government, and some of us paid a greater price than others.
Then it was time for the ceremony. All of our veterans were gathered for the ceremony. The color guard was there and a Marine came to play taps. When it was over, we had a little more time before we had to head back to the buses.
Our next stop was the Korean War memorial. Some of the veterans did not take well to the heat here so they stayed in the air conditioned buses while the rest of us went to see the Korean War memorial, the Lincoln memorial, and, if adventurous, the Vietnam memorial. Bill didn't even think twice before we headed to the Vietnam memorial so that we could find the name of his old friend's son who died while there. We did get a little turned around (I should have brought my Garmin), but we did make it. We stopped on the way at the Lincoln memorial where he showed me some architectural tricks he had learned. I'm sure everyone was staring at us while we went to our knees to get eye level with the steps to observe that the middle of the step was higher than the rest. With the help of volunteers at the Vietnam memorial, we were able to find the name of his old friend's son. After a quick stop to get a Dove ice cream bar, we headed back to the bus.
Along the way, he told me more about his time in the war. He told me the story of his friend Marty Miller. While in Austria, they helped the Jews at one of the liberated concentration camps. The Austrians did not want the "walking skeletons" out in the open where they would be forced to see them, so the Army had to help keep them contained in the camps. There was a supply train that went by that carried food. Marty took his tank and parked it on the train tracks, forcing the train to stop so that they could get the food that was desperately needed for the Jews. Unfortunately, they still lost many of them and would stack the dead by the gates every morning for burial.
Bill also talked about how they would only march at night to avoid German soldiers and would have to have their camp up by dawn.
Then it was time to head to the Air and Space Museum at Dulles. These veterans may be older than us, but they have a lot of energy. One of the soldiers who came to be a guardian was worn out and fell asleep on the bus ride. His veteran made sure none of us woke him till we arrived at Dulles.
Once there, the Smithsonian guides took us around a great tour. We saw the Enola Gay and even the last Sikorsky JRS-1, the only US plane that survived Pearl Harbor. After viewing other highlites in the museum, it was time to head back to the airport.
After dinner, our veterans still had energy. We had some swing dancers come perform for us while we ate dinner. Afterwards, some of our veterans and guardians got up to dance as well. Then it was time to take our last pictures and send them back home.
It was heartwarming that so many strangers came up to the veterans at the various sites and thanked them for their service. Bill later told me that it was the first time anyone has ever thanked him for his service. I look forward to doing this again in October.
No comments:
Post a Comment