I wish I’d known about this a year ago. It was over a year ago that my father, a WWII US Army Air Force pilot, was diagnosed with leukemia.
It’s too late for my father; he passed away on February 11th of this year at age 88.
It may not be too late for your father, your grandfather. If he was a veteran of WWII, please take advantage of this wondrous opportunity:
The Honor Flight Network, as is written on their website:
Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization created solely to honor America’s veterans for all their sacrifices. We transport our heroes to Washington, D.C. to visit and reflect at their memorials. Top priority is given to the senior veterans – World War II survivors, along with those other veterans who may be terminally ill.
Of all of the wars in recent memory, it was World War II that truly threatened our very existence as a nation—and as a culturally diverse, free society. Now, with over one thousand World War II veterans dying each day, our time to express our thanks to these brave men and women is running out.
It’s not too late to take this journey. Too late for me. Please. Make it not too late for you.
Take the adventure. If you have a loved one, make it the adventure of their lives. Accompany them, hold them, honor them. Recognize their amazing achievements.
Trust me; they won’t do it themselves. You have to do it for them.
Honor them now. Hug them now. Kiss them now. Life is so fleeting. Don’t be me. Don’t make my mistakes.
Every day is a new blessing.
BZ
You have a great blog. I like that the material is diverse. Good job.
I noticed the following sobering statement on the Honor Flight web site:
In another 5-7 years almost all of our World War II veterans will be gone.
All of the WWII veterans whom I personally know live in the Washington, D.C. area and attended the opening ceremonies. And each and every one of these veterans told of how moving and how important to them being present at the memorial was for them.
I hope that the VFW’s and the American Legions are enrolled in the Honor Flight program. Those organizations can raise money so that veterans can visit the WW II Memorial.
CJ: thank you most kindly for visiting, and thank you for taking the time to comment. Please return and continue reading. I tend to get wrapped up in politics but I do sprout to other issues now and then.
AOW: that was the catch line for me as well. Along with:
“Now, with over one thousand World War II veterans dying each day, our time to express our thanks to these brave men and women is running out.”
It ran out for me. I’m asking that others be not so obtuse.
BZ
BTW, Mr Press, I just found your blog, from your book’s site on Amazon (which I ordered), and I am immediately installing you into my The Usual Suspects blogroll. I very much believe your blog needs to be seen by my readers. I am assuming this is acceptable to you.
BZ
BZ,
I did a post yesterday about the news that Obama wants to make the disabled vets pay for their own medical care via private insurance!! Can you believe that!! This really angers me.
Rivka: my father had federal insurance called Tricare. It’s excellent insurance. It makes no difference now that he’s gone, but if you remove that quality of coverage from the rest of our Vets, their lives WILL suffer.
BZ
BZ,
I stand corrected. He doesn’t want to get rid of their govt. coverage, he wants their private insurance to pick up the tab instead, or to reimburse the govt for past medical costs. This means that those disabled vets who have private insurance, their costs will go up and it will be harder for them to get jobs.
This is still sickening!