Patriotism Takes Flight
culture, prattville, reagan national airport, river region chapter of honor flight,
More than a half-century since the end of World War II, the Prattville community is going to new heights to say “thank you” to the men and women of America’s greatest generation. Through a heartfelt show of support, more than 200 local veterans are once again taking to the skies, thanks to the River Region Chapter of Honor Flight, a nonprofit organization that flies World War II veterans to Washington D.C. to visit the nation’s war memorials.
“I can’t put into words how grateful these guys were,” says Roscoe Williams, co-founder of the local chapter.
In May 2008, Williams joined 87 veterans from Autauga, Elmore and Montgomery counties aboard a chartered U.S. Airways flight for the chapter’s inaugural trip. Bagpipers, uniformed troops, bands and members of Congress were on hand to greet the military heroes in a long-overdue welcome ceremony at Reagan National Airport.
“When the guys came in that morning we had 87 little old men and women,” Williams says. “When we walked into that memorial behind the bagpipers, they stood tall, threw their shoulders back and were ready to go to war again.”
A second flight was scheduled for late 2008, and Williams hopes to make a third flight in 2009. He says the organization’s mission is a time-sensitive one, as more than 1,200 World War II veterans pass away each day. That sobering statistic helped Williams and chapter cofounders Joe Mathis and Dr. Ed Mullins rally the community for an overwhelming show of support. While each Honor Flight comes with a price tag of nearly $60,000, contributions quickly came pouring in from individuals, churches and schools.
Millbrook resident James Traylor was among those who boarded that inaugural flight to the nation’s capitol. A former Air Force B-17 ball turret gunner, Traylor was shot down on his 11th mission and held as a prisoner of war until the conflict ended nearly two years later.
“It was a mind-boggling experience,” Traylor says of his much-anticipated visit to the war memorials. “What got me was watching these guys get off the bus so slowly and seeing their eyes popping and mouths opening. It brought chill bumps on chill bumps.”
Among those fellow veterans was Prattville resident Lonnie H. Boyett, who served as a motorcycle escort during the war, at one time accompanying Gen. George Patton. In describing that time of his life, Boyett conveys some memories of the war, including once being captured when he was mistaken for a German soldier and arriving at Omaha Beach on D-Day just after the battle had ended. While visiting the World War II Memorial brought back some of those memories, seeing it in person was a significant experience, he says.
“I had never been to see the memorial, and really wanted to go,” Boyett says. “I will never forget it. It was really something to see.”
Mathis, a Prattville businessman and retired Air Force colonel, says the trip is a very small way to recognize the brave men and women of World War II.
“What if we had never won that war?” Mathis says. “All our successes go directly back to the efforts these men and women made years ago, and this trip finally said ‘thank you.’”
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Story by Melanie Hill
Photo by J. Kyle Keener
