May 11, 2007 - Taking Flight - World War II veterans to visit memorial

Pam Morgan says she's always been impressed with World War II veterans.

As an Army nurse, she tended to the aging vets in military hospitals, drinking in their stories.

Jason A. Frizzelle/The Daily Reflector

Richard W. Gaylord poses for a portrait with a photo of himself taken before he left for service in World War II. Gaylord served 19 months with Battery A 113th Field Artillery Battalion 30th Infantry Division.

So a feature on a morning news show in September drew her attention. It was about HonorAir, a Henderson County nonprofit that provides World War II veterans free flights to Washington, D.C., to visit the World War II Memorial, the first national memorial dedicated to all who served during the war.

That story lit a fire in the 38-year-old Tarboro resident.

"These World War II vets are not going to be with us much longer, and they deserve to go to that memorial," said Morgan, a Tarboro native and 12-year Army veteran who is a nursing instructor at Edgecombe Community College.

That impulse ultimately led to Saturday's scheduled 9 a.m. flight out of Pitt-Greenville Airport, chartered to carry 100 of the nation's roughly 3 million World War II veterans to their memorial.

According to some estimates, surviving vets are dying at the rate of more than 1,000 a day.

About five months after Morgan saw the TV segment, the founder of Honor Flight — the first organization to fly vets to the World War II Memorial for free — along with HonorAir's founder, held an informational summit for those interested in mounting similar efforts.

Morgan attended the meeting. "I came back and immediately started the program here," she said.

She set up Memorial Flight as a nonprofit offshoot of the Edgecombe Veterans Military Museum, and then started asking for donations and advertising the initiative.

She announced the flight through local news outlets and by contacting veterans organizations such as the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Response was slow at first, she said. "Some people were just really surprised — 'Was it really going to be at no cost to people?'"

But her confidence in the flight's success never flagged.

"I always had faith this trip would happen," she said.

"Then it kind of picked up," she said of participation. "In the past three weeks, we have had 50 people sign on for the trip."

The 150-seat jet chartered through US Airways at a cut rate is now fully booked, including 100 vets and volunteer "guardians," who will assist the veterans, she said.

Morgan hired three tour buses to meet the group at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and shuttle them to the memorial on the Mall. Lunch and a buffet dinner are included in the free excursion.

Though vets are signed up from several counties in eastern North Carolina, 25-30 of them are from Greenville and Pitt County, she said.

Two of those ready to wing northward are brothers Richard W. and Louis Gaylord of Greenville. Neither man has visited the memorial, which opened about three years ago.

Richard, 86, served as a field artilleryman and later as a forward observer in Europe, landing in France a few days after the D-Day invasion. He earned a battlefield commission as a second lieutenant and won the Bronze Star and Silver Star.

"I wasn't planning on going — drive up there and get all in that crowd and everything," he said of a visit to the memorial. "But with this, it couldn't be any more convenient."

"So I thought certainly I want to go," he said.

Louis echoed his brother.

"Boy, this is an easy way to do it," Gaylord, 88, remarked of the free trip. He served in Iran during the war, reaching the rank of captain.

"I thought it would be interesting," he said. He called Memorial Flight "a very generous" thing.

The elder Gaylord didn't have any idea of how the visit would affect him, or what thoughts it would engender."No, I really don't till I get there and see it," he said.

Richard Gaylord said he likely will feel a range of emotions, but will treat the experience as he did the war effort."Of course, I'm aware of those that were lost and all, but that's war, and that's part of life as the way we know it," he said.

"You go in, you do your duty, you come back home, you go to work, and forget it," Gaylord said.

That duty-above-self attitude is a hallmark of World War II veterans, which Morgan calls "a special generation — the 'Greatest Generation' they have been called."

"These veterans have been so excited about this trip," she said. "Many have said they otherwise wouldn't be able to go," citing mobility problems and finances among the obstacles.

"They're excited about the opportunity to have camaraderie with other World War II veterans," she said.

Now, there's a waiting list for what she hopes will be another flight. So far, Morgan has raised about $26,000 of the Saturday trip's $34,000 price tag. If funds come up short, she'll kick in her own money, she said. And gladly.

"To honor their service," Morgan said. "That's what it's all about."  

T. Scott Batchelor, Greenville Daily Reflector - Greenville,NC,USA