On Saturday, May 2, I had the opportunity to make a one day trip to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. This no-cost trip was sponsored by the Southeastern Minnesota Honor Flight. And as a veteran of World War II, I went with 14 men and one woman (Constance Benson) from Albert Lea and three veterans from Glenville. Also going with us was a person from Albert Lea and a person from Glenville who served as guardians or escorts.

Each of these folks has his or her own impressions and memories of this special trip. What follows is based on my personal narrative, plus a timeline for this one-day trip.

We left Albert Lea at 3:45 a.m. that Saturday. About the only unusual sight we saw on our trip on a still dark morning were many blinking red lights ahead of us on Interstate 90 to the east of Austin. The source of these strange aerial lights became apparent as we came near the Dexter exit. To the north and south of this community are many towers that are part of a wind farm to generate electricity.

We arrived at the Rochester Airport about an hour later. There was quite a crowd in the lobby. Most of these folks were veterans and our escorts and support personnel from the region who would be going to the nation’s capital. Other folks were there to give us sendoff. And what was the most unusual aspect of the last part was a live eagle from the National Eagle Center in Wabasha.

Our U.S. Airways passenger plane left Rochester about 6:30 a.m. and arrived at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport at 8:45 a.m.

Incidentally, all times I’m using in these columns are based on Central time. Some of the folks on our flight changed their watches to Eastern time, and some of us didn’t.

What had to be a really different greeting or reception for our Honor Flight came as the aircraft approached the terminal. The aircraft went between two fire trucks parked on the runway. These trucks were from either the Washington or Alexandria departments. (The Reagan Airport is actually in Virginia.) At just at the right point the two trucks shot out an aerial stream of water to form an arch over aircraft.

Our group went on three buses across one of the Potomac River bridges into the District of Columbia and we arrived at the World War II Memorial 15 minutes later.

As I explained in the April 30 Tribune article, this memorial is near the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. And off in the distance we could bee the dome of the nation’s capitol building.

As our group left the buses and prepared to go to the World War II Memorial, we had the opportunity to meet two very significant men.

One was Earl Morse. He’s the founder and president of the Honor Guard organization.

When I applied for this trip in March 2008, the application form was sent to Springfield, Ohio. Thus, I assumed Morse was living in this locality when I wrote the April 30 article. I asked him if this was correct and he confirmed that my assumption was correct.

Morse obviously likes to be at this memorial whenever possible to greet the veterans who come to the nation’s capital on the honor flights.

Another person who really promoted the creation of this memorial is former Kansas Sen. Robert Dole. He was the second person who was there to greet us that Saturday morning.

We’ll continue this narrative about this one day Washington trip and an update on Dole in the next column.

Meanwhile, here’s a timely message from the local VFW post, signed by Jim Doty, commander, and Betty Jones, auxiliary president.:

Remember Buddy Poppy Day

In Paris 1920 a lady by the name of Anna E. Gueria chose the poppy as a symbol of the wartime dead.

They distributed the poppies to raise money for the hundreds of thousands of French orphans and others made destitute by World War I. Later on she approached the Veterans of Foreign Wars here in the USA and in May 1922 we began distribution and sales of the poppies.

This year on May 14 and 15 (today) you will see members of the local VFW post and auxiliary 447 out selling poppies for your donations. These donations are all used here locally.

Ed Shannon’s column have been appearing every Friday in the Tribune since December 1984.