Post by kanowarrior on Apr 10, 2012 12:22:14 GMT -5
WWII vets looking forward to Honor Flight
By Nathan Woodside
The Courier
Posted Apr 10, 2012 @ 08:47 AM
LINCOLN —
Thanks to the donations of many individuals, organizations and businesses, six veterans from Lincoln will join others on an April 17 Land of Lincoln Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.
They are Cecil Gable, Eugene Hickey, Edgar Logan, Deane May, William Wurth and Howard Zook - all World War II veterans residing in Lincoln.
The trip will include visits to the Korean War and World War II memorials, Arlington National Cemetery and the National Air and Space Museum.
Two of them
While both Zook and May entered the war at much different times, neither were put into active-battle situations. They both say they waited as long as they did to take an Honor Flight because they wanted to make sure the veterans put into harms way got to go first.
“I at first didn’t think that I ought to go because nobody shot at me,” said May. “There were a lot of fellas out here that had a lot more to do with that war than I did. I never made an effort to go. Finally, I was talking to a man that’d been there and he said, ‘No, no, no. You ought to go.’”
May was an infantryman who worked occupational support on the Japanese island of Kyushu about a year after atomic bombs were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945.
He was in high school when the bombs were dropped. One year later, he was walking the streets of Nagasaki.
“I’ll never forget it,” he said. “The Japanese people had started cleaning up, and they had the streets cleared well. All the debris was stacked up in piles long the sides of the streets, separated and ready for recycling. They had sorted out the rock and metal and whatever else was salvageable to start over. That place was flattened."
After serving for 20 months, he was discharged from the 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He said he read years later that the same group went into Korea and only a handful survived.
May, who was born and raised on a farm just west of Lawndale, says he hopes to eventually meet up with someone he served with.
"I never did contact any of them," May said. "As a matter of fact, I've misplaced and lost all of the address and names that accumulated when I was discharged."
May said it's an honor to go on the trip and be associated with other WWII veterans. He's never been to Washington, DC.
By Nathan Woodside
The Courier
Posted Apr 10, 2012 @ 08:47 AM
LINCOLN —
Thanks to the donations of many individuals, organizations and businesses, six veterans from Lincoln will join others on an April 17 Land of Lincoln Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.
They are Cecil Gable, Eugene Hickey, Edgar Logan, Deane May, William Wurth and Howard Zook - all World War II veterans residing in Lincoln.
The trip will include visits to the Korean War and World War II memorials, Arlington National Cemetery and the National Air and Space Museum.
Two of them
While both Zook and May entered the war at much different times, neither were put into active-battle situations. They both say they waited as long as they did to take an Honor Flight because they wanted to make sure the veterans put into harms way got to go first.
“I at first didn’t think that I ought to go because nobody shot at me,” said May. “There were a lot of fellas out here that had a lot more to do with that war than I did. I never made an effort to go. Finally, I was talking to a man that’d been there and he said, ‘No, no, no. You ought to go.’”
May was an infantryman who worked occupational support on the Japanese island of Kyushu about a year after atomic bombs were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945.
He was in high school when the bombs were dropped. One year later, he was walking the streets of Nagasaki.
“I’ll never forget it,” he said. “The Japanese people had started cleaning up, and they had the streets cleared well. All the debris was stacked up in piles long the sides of the streets, separated and ready for recycling. They had sorted out the rock and metal and whatever else was salvageable to start over. That place was flattened."
After serving for 20 months, he was discharged from the 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division. He said he read years later that the same group went into Korea and only a handful survived.
May, who was born and raised on a farm just west of Lawndale, says he hopes to eventually meet up with someone he served with.
"I never did contact any of them," May said. "As a matter of fact, I've misplaced and lost all of the address and names that accumulated when I was discharged."
May said it's an honor to go on the trip and be associated with other WWII veterans. He's never been to Washington, DC.
