Honor Flight

Merritt King has led a long, full life.

You can tell just by strolling through his house in Geneva. Nearly every surface is covered in memorabilia, most of it from World War II, and as the 89-year-old King darts from display case to drawer to closet, showing it off, it's apparent he's proud of his collection.

But he's no ordinary WWII enthusiast -- King was there, serving for more than five years in the Army. He landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, on June 9, 1944, three days after D-Day, and served as a map engineer, helping the French military discover the locations of German land mines. He saw a lot of men die and returned with truckloads of mementos.

Since then, King served as alderman in Geneva for 28 years. He raised a family and buried a wife and a son. He continues to speak at veterans lunches and other events about his time in the war, and he regularly meets with other D-Day survivors, to talk and remember.

It's been a full life. But one thing Merritt King hasn't done is to visit the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. He's wanted to go for years, and in June, thanks to a new not-for-profit group called Honor Flight Chicago, he'll make the trip for free.

Honor Flight Chicago began three months ago, and was started by four Chicago-area women with amazing stories of their own. The local branch is an offshoot of the national Honor Flight, which operates 69 such chapters across the country. They live on donations and use the money to pay for plane tickets to Washington and bus rides to the memorials.

The trip itself is a one-day affair -- veterans are picked up and taken to the airport, flown to D.C., and then taken on a guided tour of the World War II, Vietnam and Korean War memorials. Each vet is accompanied by a guardian, who pays his or her own way.

According to Vice President Mary Pettinato, since the organization incorporated in March, they've signed up more than 60 area veterans, enough to book two flights to Washington. Each flight costs the organization about $35,000, Pettinato said.

"There are many more veterans than we have money to support them," she said. "If I had my druthers, I'd fly every week."

One of the reasons for that is the advancing age of World War II veterans. Those still alive hover around the 90-year-old range, and many can't make the trip on their own. But another reason is the relative lateness of the memorial itself -- it opened in 2004, nearly 60 years after the end of the war. Compare that to the Vietnam Memorial, which was completed in 1982, seven years after the fall of Saigon.

By the time the memorial opened, many of the vets who survived the war had already died, and many others were too old, or in poor enough health, that they couldn't make the trip themselves.

"The memorial is extremely late," said Don Thompson, an 88-year-old Army pilot who flew anti-submarine intelligence missions during the war. "But I'm extremely pleased to have the opportunity to see it in the near future."

Thompson lives with his wife in Montgomery and is signed up for Honor Flight's June 25 trip, along with King and other Fox Valley veterans. Thompson is old and frail and suffers from skin cancer, but like many World War II veterans, he's still sharp. He remembers his days flying low over enemy vessels as if they happened last week.

Merritt King and his friend, Jim Taff, are the same way. Taff, who lives with his wife in St. Charles, was a demolitions expert for the Army Rangers. He was part of the invasion force at Pointe du Hoc, a 100-foot-high bluff between Omaha and Utah beaches. Taff was part of a battalion that scaled that bluff, with orders to take out six gun encampments.

Now, 64 years later, he and King still get together regularly to talk about the war. The two men are part of an informal group of D-Day survivors -- there were 12 in the group initially, Taff said, but now they are down to four, and one of those four is in poor health.

It's that communal experience that Honor Flight offers -- the chance to go to the memorial erected in your honor, in the company of others who lived through the same thing. For the four women who started it, Honor Flight Chicago is a way to give back, a way to show the gratitude they feel.

Part of Pettinato's job is to call veterans, explain the program to them and sign them up for flights. And she says reactions have ranged from surprised happiness to emotional silence.

"I've had more people crying and just beside-themselves happy," she said.

Each of the four Chicago board members found out about Honor Flight and contacted them in different ways.

"We all got e-mails from Al Bailey (an Honor Flight director in Dayton, Ohio), saying the four of you need to get together," laughed Suzanne Stanits, secretary for Honor Flight Chicago. "A week later, we all met at a restaurant."

What they found when they met each other was a shared respect for veterans, and a shared history -- all of them are related to veterans, either by blood or marriage. Pettinato is the daughter of a World War II veteran, and Stanits is married to a Vietnam veteran.

But it's President Jeanmarie Kopp and her mother, Treasurer Nancy Kopp, who have the most fascinating story. Nancy's father, Calvin Turkington, fought in World War II and was listed as missing in action for decades. As the Kopps found out more about Honor Flight, they decided to do some research into Turkington, and they discovered an online tribute to him.

This discovery led them to find his grave -- Turkington was buried in The Netherlands, unbeknownst to his family, and a band of brothers there had been taking care of his grave for years. The Kopps plan on visiting the site soon, and both said they were overwhelmed at this new information.

"It's such a joy to discover this and to meet people who knew him," Jeanmarie Kopp said.

All four say they can think of nothing more noble than helping to serve the surviving veterans. Honor Flight Chicago is completely dependent on donations, and Pettinato said they will not accept any such donations from veterans -- "They've given enough," she said. It's a lot of hard work, but she said seeing the joy on a veteran's face when he is told he's getting a free trip to the memorials makes it all worth it.

"When I first started this, I had questions about it," Nancy Kopp said. "There are a lot of worthwhile causes, and flying men to D.C. to see a piece of granite ... what is that? But it has nothing to do with that. It has to do with honor and gratitude and respect."

"It's important we learn from these people, because they're going to be gone soon," she said.