Advertisement

Local veterans honored in D.C.

Error message

  • Warning: array_merge(): Expected parameter 1 to be an array, bool given in _simpleads_render_ajax_template() (line 133 of /home/pdccourier/www/www/sites/all/modules/simpleads/includes/simpleads.helper.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to get property 'settings' of non-object in _simpleads_adgroup_settings() (line 343 of /home/pdccourier/www/www/sites/all/modules/simpleads/includes/simpleads.helper.inc).
  • Warning: array_merge(): Expected parameter 1 to be an array, bool given in _simpleads_render_ajax_template() (line 157 of /home/pdccourier/www/www/sites/all/modules/simpleads/includes/simpleads.helper.inc).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in include() (line 24 of /home/pdccourier/www/www/sites/all/modules/simpleads/templates/simpleads_ajax_call.tpl.php).

Navy veteran Glenn Berns and his daughter, Cheri Werges, of Garnavillo traveled to Washington D.C. on an Honor Flight in October. (Photo submitted)

By Molly Moser

Garnavillo veteran Glenn Berns, 75, and Guttenberg veteran Floyd Westhoff, 82, traveled to Washington, D.C. on Oct. 18 as members of the Honor Flight. The nonprofit, which has 127 hubs in 41 states, is dedicated to providing veterans with honor and closure by allowing them to visit, for free, their memorials in Washington, D.C.

Berns and Westhoff traveled with their children Cheri Werges and Gary Westhoff, respectively. They left Cedar Rapids by plane at 5:15 a.m. for a 90-minute flight to the nation’s capital, where they were given the royal treatment.

“A water truck with two canons was shooting water over the airplane. The sun was shining and the mist off of that water created a rainbow that we saw in the plane. It was pretty cool,” said Berns. “In the terminal, there were people everywhere to greet us… A band was playing, people were waving flags and cheering, handing out candy and shaking our hands.”

Berns served in the Navy from 1959 to 1963 on an aircraft carrier, maintaining fuel systems and fueling planes, in Vietnam and the South China Sea. Berns was aboard the U.S.S. Kearsage when it picked up the first astronauts to travel to outer space. After exiting orbit, the Kearsage tracked the space capsules to recover both Leroy Cooper and Wally Schirra. “I’ve seen many things since I’ve been in the Navy, but what I saw today tops them all,” Berns wrote in a letter to his parents after witnessing Schirra’s arrival. “When I first saw the space capsule it was coming down at a terrific rate of speed. It looked like a falling star. Even though it’s dark in color and is burnt and rusty, it was silver and was leaving a vapor trail. Shortly after that he opened his parachute and he slowly drifted to the water… It just wasn’t like this on the farm back in Garber. Wish you could have seen it.”

The group of veterans and their companions traveled by bus with police escorts throughout the city, never once stopping for traffic. A tour guide described the scenery, which included the Pentagon, the White House, the U.S. Treasury Department, and George Washington Monument – which was a highlight for Berns, who had never been to D.C. before the trip. “I’ve seen it so many times in pictures; I finally got to see it up close,” he told The Press.

“The WWII Memorial and the Air Force Memorial, the Lincoln Monument, the Korean Memorial – they were all good,” said Westhoff, who served in the U.S. Army from 1955-1957 helping with basic training at Fort Chaffee in Arkansas. Like many on the trip, it was his first time in Washington, D.C. 

The veterans also visited the Vietnam Memorial, the Women’s Memorial, the Marine Corps War memorial and Arlington Cemetery, where they laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Honor Flight buses are the only vehicles allowed to enter the cemetery. 

“Seven times we got on and off the buses, and every time we got on the bus there was something in our seat to eat,” said Westhoff. “They made sure you didn’t go hungry or didn’t get thirsty.”

The veterans and their companions boarded their return flight at 8:15 p.m. that same day, and on the way home there was a mail call for each vet with letters from family and friends. Berns received 140 letters, many from students at Clayton Ridge Middle School, where his daughter is a teacher. 

“I didn’t have my glasses on,” chuckled Westhoff, remembering the mail call. 

“He read them when he came home. I thought he’d sleep in and here he was sitting at the table at 5 o’clock reading all his mail!” said his wife, Betty. 

Five in the morning came awfully early as the travelers didn’t get home until after 1 a.m. When their plane landed in Cedar Rapids at 10 p.m., a crowd was waiting. “It was quite a reception,” said Westhoff’s son Gary. “Hundreds of people shook his hand all the way through.” 

Boy Scouts, Knights of Columbus, a motorcycle group and flag bearers were among those in the crowd. “I bet there were eight or nine hundred people greeting us when we were there at 10 p.m., shaking our hands. The band was playing again, and there were people waving flags, holding signs, cheering. Someone gave me a rose. It was so surreal,” Berns told The Press. The veterans and their companions were given shirts and hats, and each vet received a plaque in honor of their service to the country.

“No matter where you went, the kids on field trips would walk up to these guys and shake their hands, and thank us for our service,” said Berns of the Honor Flight experience. “Anybody that’s got a chance to do it needs to do it.”

Rate this article: 
No votes yet