The Farm

My Dad always complained when we would go to visit Aunt Mary...there is nothing for the WW11 veterans. Korean memorial, Vietnam memorial...why not the greatest generation. When I heard that they were finally building a memorial...I knew he had to go. He was already in Wittenberg assisted living, still getting around fairly well...Jeremy & I visited Washington DC in June that year. We flew out of Indy on a short flight to Reagan International. Took the subway into DC. Stayed at the Holiday Inn Capitol. This is it I thought, this is the perfect way to get him there. So I proposed the plan to the family...we can do it...come along...Mike and Verna and all of their kids (except Joshua) went. Even Luke and his two little girls. Evia just born that July. Dave & Sandy, Nancy, Patty, Jerry & I, and Jeremy. I called Steve Cobb who lives nearby and asked if he could get us a wheel chair. He was waiting at the airport....with a chair and another surprise...Aunt Mary had flown in to be with us!!! That was so neat! He loaded us up in a van and took us downtown. The hotel was so convenient with a swimming pool on the roof...we enjoyed meals with Steve and Tania and their kids. The next day we took the trolley to the capital and met with Senator Lugar's staff. They gave us a guided tour of the capital building. Then on past the White House, the Washington Monument and ended up at our goal ...the beautiful monument to all the veterans from World War 2. Everyone took a turn pushing Dad, he wore his red VFW hat and several people stopped our caravan, shook his hand, and said THANK YOU...Thank you for serving. Needless to say...Dad was overwhelmed by the monument. I was afraid that he wouldn't quite get the scope of it...but I know he did. We walked all the way to the Lincoln monument, throught the Korean and Vietnam memorials...then walked all the way back to catch the shuttle. The next day, we took him on the Duck tour. Caught a boat/car at Union station, toured the city and then drove into the Potomac. He got a kick out of that!! We could have never did it without Steve's help. THANK YOU STEVE!! As I was driving him back to Wittenberg when we arrived home, he looked at me, smiled that grin, and said THAT WAS A GOOD TRIP! He was so proud of his picture book. He showed it to anyone that would look at it. Probably several times. We were so proud to be able to do that for our Dad! I think of this trip often, when I see the "Honor Flights" that they are doing now for WWII vets that have not been able to make the trip. I'm so glad we honored ours.