Honoring our WWII veterans

• Honor Flight

Brian Korthals/Daily Globe TOP: U.S. Army General Gregory Schumacher (left) greets Army veteran Virgil Dilley upon arrival at BWI Airport in Baltimore during the Southwest Minnesota Honor Flight on Friday.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rain drops and a little wind Saturday morning couldn’t stop 109 veterans from walking along the granite pillars that make up the grand oval tribute to all who served in World War II.

Clad in their red Honor Flight Southwest Minnesota windbreakers, red, white and blue caps and clear plastic ponchos, they admired the flowing fountains, the towers marking the Atlantic and Pacific war fronts and the wall of gold stars — each star to represent 100 men who lost their lives in battle.

“It’s marvelous - fabulous - I wouldn’t miss it,” said Clem Gronewold of the World War II Memorial built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and dedicated on May 29, 2004.

Gronewold, of Madelia, served in the Army Air Corps from 1942 through 1946, and taught cadets how to fly at air bases in Texas.

“They went overseas and did my fighting for me,” he said. While many may have made it home after the war, it’s likely that some suffered injuries or even death in service to their country.

More than 400,000 American troops were killed in the war that stretched from Dec. 7, 1941 through August 15, 1945.

“I felt sorry for them, but they died for our country,” Gronewold said, who remained in the Air Force Reserve after the war and served as a weekend warrior for another 24 years.

The World War II was a definite favorite among the veterans on this fourth and final journey of Honor Flight Southwest Minnesota.

The two-day trip left the Sioux Falls, S.D., airport shortly after 7 a.m. Friday and returned at around 9 p.m. Saturday night.

“You can’t duplicate it - it’s wonderful,” said Army veteran Bob Gayer of Rock Valley, Iowa, of the Honor Flight experience. “Everyone that worked for it, I praise them for it and I hope that they know that we appreciate it.”

Army Air Corps veteran Maurice Crowley, of Madelia, was still in disbelief Saturday afternoon of all the recognition, hugs, thank yous and appreciation shown to the World War II veterans during their Honor Flight.

“I just can’t believe it — I really can’t,” he said. “It’s probably the most organized trip I’ve ever seen.”

Crowley said for working with a bunch of “old guys filled with memory shock,” the Honor Flight staff did a tremendous job.

Because of Saturday’s rain, there was a slight change in the schedule. The group toured the Air Force Memorial in sprinkles, and then endured rain and wind at the World War II Memorial, followed by light showers during their visits to the Korean, Vietnam and Lincoln Memorials.

The final stop was to be the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, but with a desire to get the veterans out of the inclement weather, the destination was changed to the Smithsonian Institute’s Air and Space Museum.

It proved to be a big hit for many of the veterans - some saying it was their favorite highlight of the two-day journey.

“I flew in a lot of airplanes when I took injured soldiers back home,” said Ruth Bendt of Luverne. A surgical nurse assistant with the Army Air Corps, she said the stop at the Air and Space Museum was her favorite, although “I liked everything.”

Bendt was one of two women aboard Honor Flight Southwest Minnesota - the other was Virginia Austin of Fairmont, who traveled with her husband, Orville, also a World War II veteran.

Additional stories and lots of photographs from this fourth and final journey from southwest Minnesota will be published in a special edition to be printed with the Daily Globe on Saturday.

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