Honor Flight pays for veterans' trip to WW II memorial

Every day when George Avery gets up and peers at the mirror, he still sees "the look," even 66 years after he dropped his last 4.2-inch mortar round into a tube aimed at Nazis.

"The combat man has a far-away look," the 89-year-old St. Pete Beach veteran says, one he earned as he fought and killed and watched friends die from Kasserine Pass to Sicily to Salerno to Anzio as part of an elite unit using a weapon known as the "Four Deuce."

Today, Avery will get a chance to see other men who know that look first-hand.

Thanks to an organization called Honor Flight of West Central Florida, Avery will join a group of 24 other WWII vets this morning for an all-expense-paid trip to the National World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. It will be the first such trip from this area.

Avery can't wait to see the memorial and, especially, to spend time with the only people who can truly understand what he sees when he looks in the mirror.

"You can't express this to people who haven't experienced it," says Avery. "You really can't. It is hard to express the depth of your feelings, but I can tell you one thing. When you talk to a veteran and he has seen combat, you know it practically instantly."

* * * * *

Fred Olson, a retired Army colonel from Lakewood Ranch who served in Vietnam, first heard of honor flights about two years ago, when a WWII veteran he knew went on one.

"He couldn't stop talking about it," says Olson, 73, who eventually went to work for the state after leaving the military, helping arrange transportation for Medicaid patients.

Olson thought it was such a good idea he looked into flights for folks from in the greater Tampa area.

The national organization was created in 2005. But there was nobody organizing them here.

So in October, with a few other folks, he started Honor Flight of West Central Florida.

"We didn't have anyone serving those veterans here, and there so many," says Olson. "I did not think that was right, so I waded in."

He laughs.

"Naively," he says. "It is a lot of work. Fortunately, there are some really and good and dedicated people involved."

* * * * *

The mission of Honor Flight of West Central Florida is simple, organizers say.

"If a WW II vet is able to get on a plane and a bus, they can take advantage of our support group by applying to go at no cost to the vet," says Norm Haddad, a board member. "Vets will be taken on a first-come, first-serve basis, except for anyone with a terminal illness — they go to the front of the line.

The first trip is being sponsored by Southwest Airlines and Bright House, says Haddad.

The organization provides escorts who will help the vets with what will be a long day – a flight up to Washington and back. It will also provide wheelchairs, food and mementos like a hat and a bag for each vet.

The program, says Haddad, is already popular.

"There are more than 200 people on the waiting list," he says.

And there is a sense of urgency.

"We are losing these vets at a rate of about 1,000 a day," he says.

* * * * *

Harold Gross, who was a B-29 mechanic serving in Guam, never had anyone shooting at him.

But he was almost killed.

A pilot on one of the planes he was working on hit the wrong lever and dropped a load of incendiary bombs on the tarmac. Amazingly, no one was injured, but Gross says he was waiting to be immolated.

Like Avery, Gross, now 86 and living in St. Petersburg, says he is looking forward to the honor flight.

"I think it is wonderful," he says. "I talked to other guys who have gone, they were all really enthused."

Olson says he hopes to have a rousing crowd cheering the vets when they return.

"It's a long day," he says. "We want to make it a memory they will cherish. They gave so much to the country."

For more information about Honor Flight of West Central Florida, or if you would like to contribute, you can contact the organization at info@honorflightwcf.org, call them at 727-498-6079 or write them at Honor Flight of West Central Florida, P.O. Box 55661, St. Petersburg, FL 33732.

haltman@tampatrib.com

(813) 259-7629