Honor flights reach out to remaining WWII veterans from East Iowa

John Golden reminisces about standing guard on shark watch from a Navy destroyer in the Pacific and corresponding with six girlfriends back home to ensure his name would be announced during mail call.

At age 87, the Exline man's memory is sharp, but the World War II veteran will no longer swap stories with his USS Patterson shipmates.

“We used to have reunions every year,” he said of the 250 men who served on the ship. “We just couldn't have them anymore. The last time only three of us guys showed up.”

Golden revived that camaraderie Tuesday during an Eastern Iowa Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., but as with the reunions, a dwindling number of World War II veterans are around to take the flights. (story continues after photo gallery)

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Veterans travel for free on the daylong trips to visit war memorials in the nation's capital.

Nationwide, 1.7 million of the 16 million veterans who served in World War II were still living as of November, dying at a rate of 619 every day, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

That makes it a race against time for Michael Potter of the Honor Flight Network of Eastern Iowa.

Potter estimates that 4,000 World War II veterans in Eastern Iowa have not gone on a flight.

“Many are reluctant because they think they're not worthy,” he said. “I'm on a mission to change their perceptions.”

Still, Potter, a Vietnam War veteran, realizes that filling another Honor Flight with World War II veterans is an uphill climb and the trips will soon begin transitioning to Korean War veterans.

Fewer hubs

Even now, veterans from central Iowa are traveling for departures from Cedar Rapids, as the Des Moines network ended its flights.

Potter said just four Honor Flight hubs besides Cedar Rapids still operate in Iowa: Mason City, Waterloo, Dubuque and the Quad Cities.

About 80 servicemen and women, ranging from their mid-80s to 98-years-old, made Tuesday's trip, leaving from The Eastern Iowa Airport in the early morning and returning late at night.

One of those, Wayne Stein of Cedar Rapids, was just 17 when he enlisted in the Navy.

“My folks weren't too happy,” said Stein, who at age 85, was among the younger veterans on the flight. He was escorted around the sites by Dr. Jana Marlett of Cedar Rapids, who volunteered to serve as flight physician after her father, Eugene Marlett, went on an earlier Honor Flight.

Most veterans are accompanied by guardians - usually one of their children or grandchildren - who pay $500 for their flight and meals. Everything is free for veterans.

Potter said private and business donations funded the $85,000 cost of Tuesday's Honor Flight.

‘Great history lesson'

Veterans were greeted at Dulles International Airport with a water cannon salute; whisked to six monuments; toured Washington, D.C., by bus and observed the changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetery.

“This is a great history lesson,” said William Halvorsen, 89, of Coralville, sitting at the Lincoln Memorial steps.

The Army veteran, who served in the 179th Infantry, 45th Division, was captured at Anzio, Italy, in 1944, while protecting a bridge.

“We ran out of ammo and tried to get through German lines at night,” he said. “I don't know how they knew we were there. Daylight came and the Germans had three machine guns on us.”

Many of his friends died in the battle and Halvorsen nearly died as a POW before being taken to work on a German farm.

“The German farmers were nice to us,” he said. “They hated Hitler, too.”

Firsthand accounts like Halvorsen's made the veterans the real history lesson to many who encountered the group.

Alex Albright, a 15-year-old Montana student, was thrilled to pose questions to Kathleen Sippy, 88, of North Liberty, a veteran of the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, or WAVES.

Another student on a field trip from Cape Cod, Mass., asked if the class could thank the Iowa veterans for their service.

A line of 170 eighth-graders, along with teachers and others visiting the Marine Corps War Memorial, queued up to shake hands with each veteran seated in a wheelchair or standing in front of the statue that commemorates the Iwo Jima flag-raising.

Veterans' tales

Some veterans only reluctantly shared their stories.

“It's not that important to anybody but me,” Milbert Huber, 86, of Cedar Rapids, insisted of his wartime service, in which he encoded and decoded confidential military communications for the Army.

His son, Ronald Huber, 64, who served in Vietnam, said the opposite was true.

John Brown, 89, of Cedar Rapids, had his image captured in a photograph with two other servicemen and their jeep as a Navy medical corpsman attached to the Marines at Iwo Jima.

Andy Andrews, 95, of Troy Mills, spent two weeks on the front-line at the Battle of the Bulge.

“I filled in for people who got killed and it wasn't pretty,” said Andrews, attributing his survival as an infantry rifleman to the American Indian who trained him as a soldier.

Bill Rowden, 87, of Shellsburg was one of just a few Marines on the trip.

A quiet man, Rowden served in Okinawa and didn't mention the Purple Heart he earned after being wounded by shrapnel until prompted by his daughter, Sherry Williams, 61, of Center Point.

Few of Rowden's friends survived the war.

“I think about it every day,” he said.

Richard Main, 90, of Carroll, wondered why so little attention is given anymore to the D-Day anniversary.

Main was a tank commander when he and other Allied troops landed on Utah Beach in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944.

“Everybody was just hoping they'd survive it,” he said. “They told us it was going to be pretty rough and it was.”

Delmar Knock, 87, of Williamsburg, became emotional as he read letters from family and friends who wrote notes that the veterans were given on the trip home.

Volunteers, too, often had tears in their eyes.

Joe Rozek, 60, a Cedar Rapids native, choked up as he described why he volunteers with the UI Alumni Club to greet Iowa veterans as they visit the monuments.

“My dad was part of this generation,” the Microsoft worker said. “I want to pay these guys back.”

The fanfare, including a choir- and band-led homecoming at The Eastern Iowa Airport - attended by several hundred family, friends, veterans groups and other organizations - was appreciated.

“I think this is a great thing that people are doing for World War II veterans,” said William Olin Sr., 88, of Iowa City, who served in the Army Medical Corps and went on to work as a dentist at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. “There aren't a whole lot of us left.”

Honor Flights page with videos, profiles and more

To sign up

Applications and more information can be found at www.EIHonorFlight.org.

Veterans interested in taking an Honor Flight or family members can contact Michael Potter at (319) 389-0923 or honorflightmedia@gmail.com.