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Veterans take a hero's flight to Washington
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By Troy Moon
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Pensacola News Journal, May 1st, 2008
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WASHINGTON — Blaise Vallese bent down with aging knees, knelt and prayed in the crisp grass surrounding the Marine Corps Memorial.
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Vallese, 86, was one of about 100 Northwest Florida World War II veterans aboard the inaugural Emerald Coast Honor Flight on Wednesday.
But Vallese's prayer wasn't for the veterans who accompanied him on the one-day trip to the nation's capital, where the aging warriors visited the World War II Memorial and other surrounding memorials and monuments.
His prayer was for those who perished at Iwo Jima, and Guadacanal, and Normandy and other far-off places scattered across the globe.
"I prayed for the departed," Vallese said as he ventured up to the imposing Marine Corps Memorial — a memorial that immortalizes the U.S. flag-raising at Iwo Jima, near the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.
"I prayed for our brothers in arms who aren't here," he said.
The Emerald Coast Honor Flight, carrying 102 veterans and more than 30 volunteers, medical personnel and members of the media, left Pensacola Regional Airport on a chartered US Airways flight at 7 a.m.
Twelve hours later, the tired group returned home to a hero's welcome, complete with several hundred flag-waving, banner-carrying family members and supporters, and serenaded by a military band from Corry Station.
"I've never been treated like this," said Pensacola resident Fred Weaver, 87, a Navy World War II veteran, smiling and leaning on his cane after the daylong adventure. "The whole day was fantastic from the time we left until the time we returned."
When the group arrived in Washington, D.C., the flight was greeted by fire engines spraying water cannon salutes over the plane in tribute. Inside the terminal at Reagan National Airport, a hundred or so people stood cheering their arrival.
The veterans seemed genuinely moved by the outpouring.
"This is just a complete surprise," said a teary-eyed Lawrence Sidel, 84, a former Navy corpsman who lives in Fort Walton Beach. "We are so grateful that they are so grateful."
Upon arriving, the group of veterans — about a dozen in wheelchairs — were helped onto three charter buses and then made the way to the sprawling World War II Memorial, located in the shadow of the Washington Monument.
There, they surveyed the twin Atlantic and Pacific pavilions that symbolize the two theaters of World War II, while others read inscriptions detailing key battles of the war.
Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, himself a decorated World War II veteran, greeted the group at the memorial, and thanked them for their service.
"If it wasn't for you," he said, "we'd all be speaking Japanese or German now."
Afterward, many stood in wait to greet Dole.
From there, the veterans and their guardians — many of whom were family members of the veterans — retreated to a tent between the memorial and the Lincoln Memorial for a boxed lunch from Arby's.
After lunch, it was back to the buses for a short ride to the base of the Lincoln Memorial, where the veterans and their guardians were free to explore the surrounding sites, including the Vietnam and Korean war memorials.
Elvin Ryals, 83, a Navy veteran who served in the Pacific, stood at the bottom steps of the Lincoln Memorial and surveyed his surroundings. Behind him, sat Lincoln. In front of him, towered the Washington Monument, with the U.S. Capitol building in the background.
"When I see those things, it reminds me of freedom," Ryals said. "That's what freedom means to me."
An hour later, the group was on the bus again, for a short trip to the Marine Corps Memorial.
There, the veterans posed with young students visiting the memorial, many of whom asked to pose for pictures with the aging warriors.
But though they smiled throughout the day, many of the veterans still carry deep wounds that have never healed.
Cy Blackman, 83, an Army artillery veteran who served in Europe during the war, said he still thinks of the brothers he lost. In fact, he dreams of them. And the dreams aren't pretty.
"I have horrible nightmares," said Blackman, who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. "We lost so many people. I still see the dead in my sleep. I see the dead people I had to walk over. I still see purple hands sticking out of the snow in my sleep."
His son, Chris Blackman, 44, of Pensacola was one of 30 guardians on the trip who were charged with caring for the veterans.
He said the Honor Flight represented "closure" for his father, who is still being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Maybe now," he said, "he can bury some of the demons."
Afterwards, Cy Blackman said some of those very demons might cease to be.
"I think this will help," Blackman said from a wheelchair after visiting the World War II Memorial. "I see a psychiatrist every two months, so I'm going to see what he says. But I feel good. This was a beautiful day. Just beautiful."
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