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16A Saturday, May 3, 2014 colliercitizen.com

COVER STORY

By Jay SchlichterCollier Citizen Editor

Tears ran down Bertha Diggs’ cheeks as she saw her son’s name, etched in stone, for the second time. The 91-year-old Naples resident had been to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial once before,

but the emotions couldn’t be held back either time.“He died when he was 22,” she said, pointing to his

name, William F. Diggs, one soldier listed among the more than 58,000 others displayed on the famous wall. “He died in 1969. He was only there three months. It was a crazy war to begin with. We shouldn’t have been there.”

Diggs had the opportunity to visit the memorial again thanks to a special one-day trip created for World War

II veterans like herself. She was one of 48 Southwest Florida residents who were whisked from Naples to Washington, D.C., for a rapid-fire tour of the national war monuments and Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday, April 26.

The organization behind the trip is Collier County Honor Flight, one of 137 chapters in the country that work to get as many WWII veterans to the nation’s capi-tal to see the National World War II Memorial that was built to commemorate their service, as well as the city’s other nearby monuments. This was the second “mission” put on by the all-volunteer staff, and they are far from finished. There are many more veterans and guardians on the local chapter’s waiting list, hoping to go next. The third flight is tentatively scheduled for September.

A flight in their

JaY SChliChTER/STaff (10)

World War ii veteran Bertha Diggs and her grandson a.J. Ward pose beside the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, next to a panel on the wall that includes the name of her son, William Diggs, who died at the age of 22 in the Vietnam War.

World War II veterans WhIsked to natIon’s capItal to commemorate theIr servIce

“I have never been so honored in all my life. All the people who came up to us were so nice. A little girl even gave me a high-five. Even the men had tears in their eyes. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. I know I’ll never forget it.”

— Bertha Diggs

World War ii veterans are seen waiting on the bus before heading to Southwest florida international airport for the second mission of the Collier County honor flight on Saturday.

Skip amodeo was moved to tears by the large crowd that gathered at Ronald Reagan National airport to welcome him and the 47 other World War ii veterans to Washington, D.C.

honor

17Acolliercitizen.com Saturday, May 3, 2014

Sen. Bob Dole, right, came out to the National World War II Memorial to speak with dozens of veterans who were brought to Washington, D.C., on April 26, as part of several Honor Flights being held that day. Here, Dole meets with Southwest Florida residents Harvey Limon, a World War II U.S. Navy veteran, and Paul Garrah, a 22-year U.S. Army veteran who has been teaching JROTC in Collier County schools for 10 years.

Members of the Barron Collier High School JROTC Honor Guard came out to wish the World War II veterans a good trip.

Veterans and their guardians walk underneath the sabers of the Barron Collier High School JROTC Honor Guard, heading toward buses that would take them from the Naples Municipal Airport to Southwest Florida International Airport.

Of the many tears shed on Saturday, most were out of exaltation. And they didn’t flow from the eyes of the veterans alone.

When Kim Crawford pushed World War II veteran Ruth Allen in her wheelchair off the airplane after land-ing at Ronald Reagan National Airport, the guardian was shocked to find about 200 military personnel and civil-ians lined up in the terminal, holding signs welcoming the group and cheering their arrival. The outpouring of love from strangers was too much for her. She cried. As many others did.

“I have never been so honored in all my life,” said Diggs, who enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943 and served two-and-a-half years as a mail carrier in Norfolk, Virginia, and San Francisco, California. “All the peo-ple who came up to us were so nice. A little girl even gave me a high-five. Even the men had tears in their eyes. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. I know I’ll never forget it.”

For most of the veterans, this wasn’t their first trip to Washington, D.C., but it was the first time many had visit-ed the still fairly new WWII memorial, which was erected nearly six decades after the Second World War ended.

Not long after the veterans, guardians and support staff posed for a group shot in front of the WWII memo-rial’s large water fountain, word quickly spread that Sen. Bob Dole was nearby, talking with veterans who had come from other parts of the country with other Honor Flight chapters. Almost every weekend, the town is in-undated with veterans from every corner of the United States. While first priority is given to WWII veterans, Honor Flight chapters occasionally bring along those who served in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. Often, the decision on which veterans to take is based on the health of the veterans.

Harold Limon, a WWII U.S. Navy veteran, was one of the lucky ones who had the chance to spend a few moments with Dole, who has made an effort, despite his declining health, to stop by the WWII memorial to speak with at least some of the traveling veterans each time an Honor Flight chapter brings them to town. Limon said Dole thanked him for his service and talked about what the memorial means to every American citizen. Dole, a decorated WWII veteran himself, is one of the main reasons the monument was built, as he fought to secure funding for the project. He is also a big proponent of the Honor Flight Network, the parent organization that started in 2005, not long after the WWII memorial was completed.

Earlier on Saturday, the Collier County group wit-nessed the solemn changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns inside Arlington National Cemetery. Many wiped away or held back tears.

“I’m an old sentimental Irishman, so all day long, I was choking up,” said Ray Maloney, a WWII U.S Air Force veteran who survived several months as a prisoner of war in Germany after his plane crashed in a Pyrenees

Continued on next page

“For some time I have thought that our generation was a forgotten one,

but I was wrong. I want to thank all the people who were there to greet us, the children, parents and the servicemen

and women. And most of all, thank all the people who were involved

in making this trip possible, especially the guardians who were with us

every step of the way.”

— Skip Amodeo

World War II veteran Abe Brown and his guardian, Darryl Johnson, walk past the Freedom Wall at the National World War II Memorial. The wall is adorned with 4,048 gold stars, each representing 100 Americans who died in the war.

18A Saturday, May 3, 2014 colliercitizen.com

By Jay SchlichterCollier Citizen Editor

As journalists, we are instructed from day one in college to stay distant from sources, always remain-ing unbiased and unmoved by the things we cover and witness.

But there are once-in-a-career events that can make one question whether that edict should always be applied.

For me, traveling with and covering the second mission of the Collier County Honor Flight on April 26, was the straw that broke that proverbial rule’s back.

Seeing the pure joy on the faces of the World War II veterans as they were applauded, hugged and kissed by countless well-wishers did it for me. When they smiled, I couldn’t help but grin. When they teared up, I nearly broke down. I’m sure even the staunchest reporter would have cracked a smile or shed a tear.

I knew going in that it was going to affect me per-sonally. But I didn’t realize how much.

As a veteran myself who comes from a long line of veterans, I have the utmost respect and admiration for my fellow servicemen and women. So seeing them honored in such a way, I expressed my gratitude to the dozens of organizers who spent untold hours getting everything just so for the second trip. Logistically, getting 48 World War II veterans, their guardians and support staff to Washington, D.C., and back safely was a task they should be highly commended for, I told them.

But I don’t feel that I was breaking any Journalism 101 rules.

Yes, this organization has goals. But it is not seek-ing fame or fortune, and there is not a political bent. The all-volunteer staff of the Collier County chapter of the Honor Flight Network seek only to show vet-erans how much their service meant to the country they proudly and bravely protected.

So it is without reservation that I encourage any and all to give of their time to lend a hand to this worthwhile group, even if it’s just waking up early or staying up late — like hundreds did for this trip — to see the veterans off and welcome them back home.

If you have the chance to experience an Honor Flight first-hand, you will love every minute of it and cherish the memories for years to come.

Personally movedCollier Citizen editor shares how honor Flight aFFeCted him

valley. “The trip was so marvelous and so well planned. And it was so generous of everybody’s time.”

The entire trip took a bit more than 20 hours from beginning to end, as the veterans started arriving at the Naples Municipal Airport before 4 a.m. and didn’t get back until just after midnight, but even at the tail end, many of the octogenarians and nonagenarians were still raring to go and enjoying the natural high from the day’s events. They were like giddy elementary school children from the moment the first bus left Naples to the time they got into cars to drive home that night.

“It was an honor and privilege to be sent to Washing-ton, D.C. It was an emotional event and I could not help to think of the boys that I grew up with who sacrificed their life for our country,” said Skip Amodeo, a WWII U.S. Navy veteran. “I say boys because that’s what they were, boys that never had the opportunity to experi-ence getting married, having children or to enjoy life’s experiences. Most of them were not old enough to have a license to drive a car, old enough to vote or even to consume alcohol in public places. I felt they were the ones that should have been honored.

“For some time I have thought that our generation was a forgotten one, but I was wrong,” he continued. “I want to thank all the people who were there to greet us, the children, parents and the servicemen and women. And most of all, thank all the people who were involved in making this trip possible, especially the guardians who were with us every step of the way.”

When the return flight landed at Southwest Florida International Airport at 10:30 p.m. Saturday, throngs of well-wishers turned out to welcome them home. An ex-act count would have been nearly impossible, but many there that night estimated that there were likely at least 1,000 people who showed up.

“I was speechless,” said Maloney. “Everybody was saying, ‘Thank you, thank you.’ All I could do was say, ‘Thank you as well.’”

On the flight home, one of the chapter’s founders, Dr. Debi Strand, got on the plane’s intercom and enthusias-tically called out a phrase every veteran heard multiple times during their days fighting on the front lines, serving aboard ships or flying high above the clouds: “Mail call!”

In the weeks and days before each trip, the Honor Flight chapter gets in touch with family members, friends and even long-lost acquaintances of each veteran. They ask those folks, as well as local elementary school chil-dren, to send along letters recounting what their veteran means to them.

When Naomi Beckner-Wilson received her package filled with nearly 20 letters, the 94-year-old who served in WWII as a U.S. Navy nurse discovered correspon-dence from those she thought she had lost contact with many years prior. The Honor Flight volunteers were able to track down people Beckner-Wilson had helped decades ago, including those she cared for at various hospitals. She was overcome with emotion.

“I want to thank them,” she said, referring to the numerous volunteers who work countless hours to make every Honor Flight memorable for the veter-ans. “They did a wonderful, stupendous job. I really appreciate them.”

And they discovered not long after the second flight that their mission is far from over.

The plane’s shadow can be seen in the water below as it nears Ronald Reagan National Airport, carrying 48 World War II veterans, their guardians and support staff of the Collier County Honor Flight on Saturday.

World War II veteran Nick Wingert looks at his reflection in the wall of the Korean Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., with etched images of actual Korean War veterans looking back. He is being pushed by his guardian, Mike Swanson.

World War II veteran Abe Brown is all smiles as he is welcomed by hundreds of well-wishers at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. He is being pushed by his guardian, Darryl Johnson, during the Collier County Honor Flight on Saturday.

Almost immediately after returning home after an exhausting day, the volunteers discovered that a Bonita Springs resident who had been on a waiting list for the Honor Flight chapter out of Charlotte County for years had taken a turn for the worse. They heard from Ed Rolquin’s family that his health was rapidly declining and that they feared he wouldn’t be around long enough for a flight with either chapter.

The volunteers were initially planning a special cel-ebration for Rolquin, to be held Tuesday night at his assisted living facility, but the family’s fears came true. He was rushed to the emergency room. But even that didn’t stop the Collier County Honor Flight organizers. After getting the go ahead from Rolquin’s family, the volunteers pulled together a last-minute group of about a dozen people and visited the World War II veteran in his hospital room late Tuesday.

The next day, the chapter’s other co-founder, Sean Lux, received word “that we just lost one more proud soldier.”

But Rolquin’s family told Lux, Strand and the other vol-unteers how much their visit meant to their entire family.

“(His daughter) said to us that it was the most heart-warming, wonderful send off we could have ever given her father and she is so thankful we were there,” Strand said via email, adding that the family will be writing an obituary that asks well-wishers to send donations to Collier County Honor Flight in lieu of flowers.

The chapter’s volunteers have said multiple times that situations like this are why they are working nonstop to organize as many flights as quickly as they can. The number of World War II veterans the nation loses ev-eryday has steadily climbed to roughly 670, according to Veterans Administration statistics.

Furthermore, it’s a journey veterans don’t even real-ize they needed to go on until they’ve actually climbed aboard the plane.

As Deb Silver, one of the chapter’s first volunteers, likes to say: “They don’t know it’s on their bucket list until they go.”

To find out more about Collier County Honor Flight, log onto collierhonorflight.org, call 239-777-9295 or like the organization’s Facebook page.

“I was speechless. Everybody was saying, ‘Thank

you, thank you.’ All I could do

was say, ‘Thank you as well.’”— Ray Maloney

YOUR COMMUNITY. YOUR FRIENDS. YOUR NEWS. | colliercitizen.com

collier citizenGOLDEN GATE ESTATES | GOLDEN GATE | NORTH NAPLES | EAST NAPLES | NAPLES

04.05.14SATURDAY

RIDING FOR HAITIFOURSOME BRAVES STORMS

ON CYCLING TRIP FROMST. AUGUSTINE TO NAPLES ❱16A

TOUCHING HISTORYBOOK COLLECTOR ALLOWS

PUBLIC OPPORTUNITY TO HANDLE RARE BIBLES ❱14A

LIFE IS HEALDTHE LITTLE PLASTIC SPORTS

DUDE SAID, ‘YOU CAME,YOU SAW, YOU SHOWED UP…

BRING ON THE BLING!’ ❱8A

IT’S THEIR HONORGUARDIANS, FOUNDERS OF NEW HONOR FLIGHT CHAPTER

DISCOVER HOW MUCH IT MEANS TO SERVE ❱ PAGE 20A

20A Saturday, April 5, 2014 colliercitizen.com

COVER STORY

World War II veteran Shirley Hansen, left, and her guardian JoAnn Decker smile for the camera while waiting to board the plane during the first voyage put on by the Collier County chapter of the Honor Flight Network.

By Jay SchlichterStaff

Organizations created to help a specific set of people can often have a profound and positive impact on an entirely different group, sometimes by mistake.

Such is the case of the Honor Flight Network.The nonprofit started with the sole intent to, as its

name implies, honor and pay respect to the men and women who served our country in a time of war by fly-ing them to the nation’s capital to tour the numerous war memorials.

But as many who have taken part have found out, the trip to Washington, D.C., might mean just as much, if not more, to those who volunteer both their time and money to be a guardian for one of the veterans.

That is exactly what Tom Donahue discovered on the first trip organized by the Collier County chapter of the Honor Flight Network. Its first flight was on Nov. 9, 2013, and the chapter had just formed six weeks prior. It is now finalizing details for its second trip, set for April 26.

“It was so amazing, because World War II was something I studied in middle and high school, as part of our history books,” Donahue said, recounting his experience as a guardian at a recent follow-up meeting with the founders of the Collier chapter and the veteran

It’s theIr hOnOrGuARDIANS, FOuNDERS OF NEW HONOR FlIGHT CHApTER

DISCOVER HOW muCH IT mEANS TO SERVE

mICHAEl OWENS/SpECIAl TO THE CITIzEN (4)

Korean War veteran Ray Cappo has a look of pure joy on his face during the first voyage put on by the Collier County chapter of the Honor Flight Network.

It was just so humbling to be in the presence of someone like mr. Ferris, and every other veteran who fought for our freedoms. I instantly bonded with him and he was like a friend, a family member...

Every guardian that goes on that trip feels the same way I do.”— Tom Donahue, Honor Flight guardian

21Acolliercitizen.com Saturday, April 5, 2014

Margaret Foley pushes Tim Timrud, a survivor of the Battle of Iwo Jima, at Southwest Florida International Airport prior to boarding the plane for the Collier County Honor Flight’s first voyage to Washington, D.C., on Nov. 9, 2013.

he escorted. They met at Shula’s Steak House in Naples, where Donahue works as the general manager.

“I can’t put into words how special it was … to be able to sit with (a World War II veteran) and spend the day with them, hearing about their story and how they were there. They witnessed it. They lived it,” Donahue said, a U.S. Army veteran himself.

The World War II veteran he was paired with and whom he spoke so reverently of, is David Ferris, a 91-year-old Naples retiree who served as a navigator aboard a B-17 bomber. On their 12th sortie, that Flying Fortress was shot down over Germany.

“We had just bombed Frankfurt,” Ferris said. “I spent the next 14 months with the Germans. That’s my story.”

He didn’t say it, but he didn’t need to. It was obvious his statement meant Ferris was held as a prisoner of war for more than a year until finally being liberated.

“It was just so humbling to be in the presence of some-one like Mr. Ferris, and every other veteran who fought for our freedoms,” Donahue said. “I instantly bonded with him and he was like a friend, a family member... Every guardian that goes on that trip feels the same way I do.”

Donahue was one of 50 guardians who were tasked with providing any assistance needed to the 50 Southwest Florida veterans picked to fly up on the chapter’s first trip.

This week, the next group of 50 guardians for the late April flight will be trained by one of the chapter’s founders, Alen Silver, who also serves as the guardian coordinator. He will go over the logistics of getting the octogenarians and nonagenarians comfortably and safely transported to Washington, D.C., and then back home to Southwest Florida, all in one day’s time.

Just like the first trip, the second trip will start at what many would agree is an insanely early time — about 3 a.m. The veterans and guardians meet up at the Naples Municipal Airport to take buses, escorted by area law enforcement, to the Southwest Florida International Air-port in Fort Myers, where they then board a plane for the journey to our nation’s capital. The itinerary of the trip is what one would assume, a tour of the many — and almost adjacent — war monuments, as well as a stop at the Arlington National Cemetery. The day ends when the final flight back returns by 10 or 11 p.m.

At each stop, crowds made up of families, active ser-vicemen and women, and others greet the veterans with signs, cheers, hugs and handshakes.

Following the return trip from the first flight, Donahue was pleased with how many turned out to show their love and support for the veterans.

“When we landed back in Fort Myers, the hallways were just lined with people,” he said. “It felt great that this many people would come out to see these men and women who served. Now they’re being celebrated. It was a long time coming.”

Donahue and the chapter’s founders mentioned that there were many handshakes that day, but Ferris talked about one that particularly touched him.

“A little boy, he couldn’t have been more than 3 years old, came up to me. He had his hand out to me,” Ferris said, not needing to add that he was happy to shake the boy’s little hand. “That gets you.”

That is essentially the point of the Honor Flight Net-work. When the parent organization was started in Ohio in 2005 by a veteran, the original founder wanted to show as many World War II veterans as possible that they had not been forgotten, despite the fact that it took decades for the United States to build a monument honoring their service and sacrifices. The National World War II Memo-rial was finally erected in 2004, almost 60 years after the war had ended.

Not long after the original chapter’s initial flights, Hon-or Flight hubs started springing up all around the country.

Sean Lux and Dr. Debi Strand were guardians for two veterans for an Honor Flight chapter out of Bradenton, Fla., in September 2013. When they discovered that there were many veterans from their backyard of Collier Coun-ty who were on a long waiting list, the couple knew there was an immediate problem that had to be solved.

“Sean’s veteran was 96, and he waited two years,” Strand said, adding that the veteran she escorted was 91 and had waited about the same amount of time. “We were so moved as guardians that we wanted to get more veterans up there.”

They met with friends and acquaintances over the next

FOLLOW THE STORYJay Schlichter, editor of the Collier Citizen, will travel with the veterans, guardians and organizers on the Collier County Honor Flight’s second round trip to Washington, D.C., documenting the all-day journey on April 26. Stay tuned for photographs, articles and more to come from that voyage.

Several founders of the Collier County Honor Flight chapter and others stood for a group pose during the first flight. From left to right, in the top row, are Albert Beatrice, Myra Williams, Alen Silver and Sean Lux. In the bottom row, are Linda Valentine, Deb Silver, Dick Thackston and Dr. Debi Strand.

several days, calling in favors and putting together the necessary funds and manpower needed to get the chapter started. It took the founders a mere six weeks to get the first flight funded, organized and off the ground — liter-ally and figuratively.

For the trip, guardians must contribute $400 to pay their way. The veterans, however, go entirely free. Along with the plane ride and other transportation, food, water and all other incidentals are covered.

That is why the chapter holds several fundraisers, and will continue to need to, in order to keep the planes flying. The chapter held a poker run on March 29, and is planning a sunset cruise for the veterans — and anyone else who wants to support the chapter — on April 16.

For each flight, the chapter transports 50 veterans and 50 guardians, along with necessary support staff, includ-ing medical personnel.

Once the second trip is over, that will mean 100 vet-erans — mostly those who served in World War II, but also some from the Korean and Vietnam conflicts — will have had the chance to finally visit their memorial. But that’s not to say that will fulfill the number of requests coming in, from both veterans and volunteers who want to be guardians.

There are many more who have never visited D.C. and want to go, the chapter’s founders say.

“Logistically, it was amazing that (the chapter) got 50 veterans, meals, buses, wheelchairs and a plane, and 50 people willing to give $400, all in six weeks,” Dona-hue said. “If we could only get the government to work that well.”

The chapter’s founders emphasize that there is very little time left. They are correct. There are roughly 1.4 million World War II veterans still with us, and the Vet-erans Administration recently estimated that about 550 of them die every day.

“Top priority is given to our most senior heroes — sur-vivors of World War II and any veteran with a terminal illness who wishes to visit their memorial,” the chapter’s website reads. “The program will also extend to our Ko-rean War veterans as space allows. In the future, we will naturally transition to the Vietnam War and all other veterans who served, on a chronological basis.

“Prior to the Honor Flight Network, many veterans had given up all hope of ever seeing the World War II Memo-rial. Now they have hope, but time is not on our side. We truly believe that the service of our World War II vets and their sacrifices saved the world from oppression and this is our very small way of saying, ‘Thank you.’”

To find out more about the Collier County Hon-or Flight chapter, visit collierhonorflight.org or call 239-777-9295.

18A Saturday, April 19, 2014 colliercitizen.com

So when the opportunity came to go on and document the second flight of the Collier County Honor Flight, traveling up to Washington, D.C., with 50 veterans and their guardians next week, I jumped at the chance, with my hand held sky high.

You see, I come from a long line of military veterans. Both my father and grandfather, with whom I share both lineage and legal full name (as I’m o� cially John F. Schlich-ter III), earned numerous commendations fi ghting in confl icts in lands far and away from America.

While I’m eternally proud of both of them, my granddad, John Frederick Schlichter Sr., holds a special place of respect in my heart and mind. After his U.S. Army Air Corps unit was taken captive by Japanese troops in the Philippines in 1942, he was one of thousands of men forced to walk dozens of miles in what would later be known as the infamous Bataan Death March.

Following their torturous journey, my grandfather was forced to live life in deplor-able, inhumane conditions for more than three years in various prisoner-of-war camps, until fi nally being liberated on Sept. 4, 1945, from the Mukden (Hoten) POW camp in Shenyang, China.

Finally, despite being blinded in one eye from his time as a POW, he continued to serve his country, transitioning from the Army Air Corps to the Air Force. Years later, he was sent overseas again, this time to serve in the Korean War. These days, it would be consid-ered unthinkable and cruel for the country to expect an injured, disabled soldier to serve in a second war.

But based on the few stories that were passed down through the family about my grandfather, he was not only willing, but honored to report for duty.

My father, John F. Schlichter Jr., served two tours of duty in the Vietnam War, fi rst as an infantryman and then as a helicopter gunner in the U.S. Army.

I unfortunately never had the chance to sit down with either of them to hear their tales, as my granddad died when I was just a tod-dler and my father was never the same man following Vietnam and had many di� culties, both mental and physical, that eventually led to his death.

And that’s just on my father’s side of the fam-ily. A good majority of the men on my mother’s side were in the United States military in one way or another, from my great-grandfather fi ghting in the First World War to my grand-father, uncles and many others serving in war-time and peacetime as well.

So it was with both pride and a sense of honoring my forefathers that I, too, decided to serve my country. Immediately after graduat-ing high school, I enlisted in the U.S. Navy as a radioman. Not long after being assigned to my fi rst ship — the U.S.S. Midway, an aircraft carrier that is now docked permanently in San Diego, Calif., as a museum — we were ordered to report to the Persian Gulf. Saddam Hussein had just invaded Kuwait and our country was about to push back, in what became the fi rst Gulf War.

While I’m proud to have played a miniscule role, the confl ict I served in was far more tame,

short and simple than what my fathers and many others went through in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. They and every other man and woman who sacrifi ced life and limb deserve all of our honor and respect.

These days, every time I see a veteran, no matter when and where they served, I make it a point to stop and shake their hand. A “thank you” is almost always and quickly out of my mouth as well. They de-serve at least that much.

That is why I will do everything in my power as a journalist to document the journey of the veterans and their guardians during the second Collier County Honor Flight trip on April 26. The local chapter is part of the Honor Flight Network, a nonprofi t organization that shows veterans how much they mean to the country they served by fl ying them to Washington, D.C., to tour the national war monuments built in their honor.

I will be traveling and reporting all day with the group, as early as 4 a.m. as the veterans and guardians arrive at the Naples Municipal Airport to take a bus to the Southwest Florida International Airport, until the return fl ight at about midnight the same day. Follow along at naplesnews.com as we take you along for the ride.

To view pictures, posts, tweets and more the day of the trip or any other time, follow me on Facebook at NDN Jay Schlichter or the Collier Citizen page, on Twitter at NDN_JSchlichter, on Insta-gram at jayschlichter or online at www.naplesne ws .com /honorfl ight.

Jay Schlichter

Military roots inspire Collier Citizen editor todocument Honor Flight

erving the country is in my family’s blood.

From the day I was born, a stint in the military was al-

most inevitable. Not only is it consid-ered the honorable thing to do, many in my family feel it’s our duty.

Clockwise from top: John F. Schlichter Jr. is seen during his fi rst tour of duty in Vietnam in the early 1970s.

John F. Schlichter Sr. holds his grandson, the author of this story, in March 1971. The World War II and Korean War veteran would pass away from lung cancer a few months later.

John F. Schlichter Jr., the father of John F. “Jay” Schlichter, in his crisp, clean U.S. Army uniform.

John F. “Jay” Schlichter III stands in front of a Christmas tree at his parents house in Cheyenne, Wyo., in December 1989.

By Jay SchlichterCollier Citizen Editor

HONOREDTOFLY

local news14a saturday, september 20, 2014 colliercitizen.com

By Staff

The name of the organization is very purposeful. Each trip is truly an honor for those who organize, volun-teer and help fly the nation’s heroes to Washington, D.C., and back home on a one-day whirlwind tour of

the national memorials erected to recognize their service. This past Saturday, the nonprofit Collier County Hon-

or Flight organization successfully escorted nearly 75 World War II and Korean War veterans on Sept. 13, 2014.

In addition to stopping at the National World War II Memorial, the group presented a Collier County Hon-or Flight wreath to soldiers guarding the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetary. They also visited the Korean, Vietnam and Iwo Jima memorials.

Hundreds, if not a couple of thousand, well wish-ers turned out at Southwest Florida International Air-port to welcome the veterans, their guardians and the group’s volunteers and organizers home. Along with family members and friends, many others attended the welcome home ceremony, including Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, JROTC students, law enforcement officers, elected officials, a choir, a bagpipe and drum corps, among many others.

The group is far from done. Its board members, includ-ing co-founders Dr. Debi Strand and Sean Lux, are putting the final touches on the next flight, scheduled for Oct. 25.

Then, on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, the organization is hosting “Honor Night,” a red carpet reception and screening of the “Honor Flight” documentary at the Paragon Theater in Naples. The event will start at 6 p.m. with a VIP meet-and-greet with Jeff Miller, the co-founder of the Honor Flight Network, and the film’s producer and director, Dan Hayes and Clay Broga.

For more information about the group, including get-ting tickets to the Nov. 11 event, or signing up as a guard-ian or volunteer, log onto www.collierhonorflight.org or call 239-777-9295.

OnemOremissiOn

Collier CounTy Honor FligHT TakeS WWii veTS on one-day WHirlWind Trip

Jay SCHliCHTer/STaFF (7)

1. roughly 75 World War ii and korean War veterans, their guardians, volunteers and organizers of the third mission of the Collier County Honor Flight pose for the camera at the national World War ii Memorial in Washington, d.C.2. a member of the Warriors Watch riders, who is also a vietnam War veteran, salutes the World War ii and korean War veterans early Saturday morning, Sept. 13, at Southwest Florida international airport.3. Jeffrey Waterworth, a World War ii veteran, receives a hug from a well-wisher who came out to Baltimore-Washington international airport to welcome the Collier County Honor Flight to her town.4. a World War ii veteran wears a huge smile as he is welcomed to the Baltimore airport by well wishers.5. Hundreds, if not a couple of thousand, of well wishers turned out at Southwest Florida international airport.6. a World War ii veteran sings patriotic songs while onboard one of the three buses carrying about 75 WWii and korean War veterans.7. World War ii veterans pose for the camera while they enjoy their flight from Southwest Florida to Washington, d.C.

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