We all know about Honor Flight but there are groups and individuals working to accomplish the same task. John Brennan, Esq. and Joyce Oster Palmer took over a project in Oneida County with great success and are building their own WWII Memorial in Oneida.

She wrote recently: “In all, between Herkimer County 200, Oneida County 430 and, at the last minute 17 from Hamilton County, making a total of approximately 650 WWII veterans from 3 counties in Central New York were able to do something they never thought possible…See the WWII Veteran’s Memorial built in their honor and memory 60+ years after their return from war. There will be a reunion on June 2008 for all the WWII veterans and a guest, so they can see each other again, catch up, swap photos and received among other things, the very special WWII Book Steve Brown published, depicted with incredible photos, showing the history of the building of the WWII Memorial

It is an extraordinary project, humbling beyond words for those who were honored to be able to do this. The wish is that every community, town, county, region or state in the nation do this for their WWII Veterans before it is just too late. It is awesome to see the Honor Flight Group, not only taking on this project around the country, but making it possible for so many WWII Veterans to be able to see their Memorial, everyone needs to get on board to make this work. Then, who knows, maybe some will have the energy to move on to the Korean Veterans, although a lot of them have had the opportunity to see their memorial, as it was built for them to see.”

Thank you Joyce and John!!!

Veterans groups are featured in Jewel of the Mall: World War II Memorial book.