It was an epic day. Senator Dole and Congresswoman Marcie Kaptur visited with WWII veterans at the WWII Memorial today. Marcie Kaptur proposed the legislation and ushered it through Congress and Senator Dole made the rest happen by raising the 200 million dollars necessary to build the Memorial. They both must have felt enormous satisfaction.

Honor Flight Northwest (Ohio) lead by Dee Pakulski (center) had its inaugaural flight today bringing 29 veterans. When Dee chartered the flight, the Express Jet Flight Crew from the airline specifically asked to be a part of the day and the Captain, Copilot and Cabin Crew all visited with the Memorial and were last seen boarding buses heading to Arlington Cemetery. Dee’s Flight held a flag ceremony at the Ohio Pillar and she was able to present her father’s flag today.

Ohio was well-represented as Earl Sr., Earl Jr., Congresswoman Kaptur, Dee Pakulski, Jim McLaughlin were all at the Memorial. Earl Morse and his dad (another Earl) drove yesterday from Ohio with a truckload of wheelchairs, then to Baltimore for Oxygen and finally to Richmond for electric scooters. After a full day, I caught this snap of Earl getting ready to drive back tonight. I think he hoped that I was going to help but I had to exercise my “journalistic integrity” which means distancing yourself from any kind of hard work!

Full-size images are available on the WWII Memorial site. Honor Flight is featured in Jewel of the Mall: World War II Memorial book.