Honor Flight

Eighty-three-year-old John Zeilstra couldn't wait for his whirlwind 18-hour trip to begin.

The World War II veteran, who currently resides in Naperville, and his daughter, Mary Cook, planned to leave about 3 a.m. Wednesday for the airport, where they would board a flight to Washington, D.C., with dozens of other area veterans.

They would land back in Chicago about 11 that night after touring the major war memorials: Korean War, Iwo Jima, Vietnam War and the newest addition - World War II.

Zeilstra said Tuesday that he was immediately interested when he received a mailing from Honor Flight describing the all-expenses-paid trip. The nonprofit organization works with Southwest Airlines to offer veterans one-day excursions to the nation's capital.

"I applied right away to find out what it was all about," said Zeilstra, whose trip is the second excursion organized by the Honor Flight's recently-formed Chicago chapter. "The next thing I know, I'm about to get on a plane for D.C."

It's been more than 60 years since Zeilstra sailed the South Pacific as a second-class signalman aboard the LST-909 - a tank-landing ship that was designed to carry vehicles, cargo and troops directly onto shore. Besides invading islands in the Philippines such as Mindoro and Luzon, his ship was part of the battle of Okinawa.

As a member of the ship's 110-member crew, his job within the communications division was to signal other ships when radio usage was prohibited.

"Most of the signals had to do with navigation, when to turn, when to zigzag ... that type of thing," he said.

Zeilstra said he enlisted in the Navy in 1943 to avoid joining the Army and to "see the world."

"I guess some of it was patriotic, but all my buddies were being drafted, and I didn't want to go into the Army," he said.

His first task when he returned home three years later was to get reacquainted with his girlfriend, Evelyn, who became his wife in 1947. The couple settled in Cicero, where they raised their six children and Zeilstra worked as a pipefitter.

They now have 17 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren. They moved to Tabor Hills Senior Living Campus in Naperville last year.

Although Zeilstra has visited Washington several times, he was anxious to see the World War II Memorial for the first time Wednesday. He says it will bring back memories of his years in the Navy - years which he remembers fondly but would never want to repeat.

"Like we used to say, we enjoyed it, but we'd never take a $1 million to do it over."