Homegrown Heroes

I have the privilege of traveling on the Honor Flight trip from The Eastern Iowa Airport on Tuesday, June 5, 2012, along with photographer Nikole Hanna.

We will report from the trip to and from Washington, D.C., throughout the day. Watch for photos and more at www.TheGazette.com

I will also be posting on Twitter - HomegrownIA - using the hashtag: #EIHonorFlight

Here is more about the Honor Flight:

CEDAR RAPIDS - Dorance Sheely was drafted the day he turned 18, leaving the family farm in Prairieburg to serve in the U.S. Army at the end of World War II.

“We didn't get much training,” said Sheely, 84, of Shueyville. “We went right overseas.”

Photos Sheely took while stationed in Germany have been lost to time, but the pictures remain vivid in his memory.

“The brick buildings had been blown to pieces,” he said. “It smelled like there were bodies still in there.”

Sheely met the woman he would marry, Vivian, in Stone City after the war.

They had seven children and were married 54 years before she died in 2005, but Sheely rarely discussed the war at home.

Many of his war buddies have since died.

Those passings have become a race against time for volunteers coordinating Honor Flights, which take military veterans to visit war memorials in Washington, D.C., for free.

Sheely is among the younger veterans who will travel Tuesday, June 5, 2012, as part of the Honor Flight Network of Eastern Iowa.

About 80 men and women who served in World War II will make Tuesday's flight, which leaves early in the morning from The Eastern Iowa Airport and returns the same day at 10:30 p.m. Members of the public are invited to greet them upon their return.

The flight is significant, as fewer World War II veterans are left to go and the trips will start focusing on Korean War veterans.

Even in the days leading up to the trip, some of the passengers have had to bow out because of ailments or falls.

Each of those traveling has a story to tell and The Gazette will be sharing as many as possible online before and during the trip, with more coverage on Saturday, June 9, 2012.

An interactive map at TheGazette.com will provide information about the veterans, including their branch of service.

Also watch for photos and online videos from the trip.