By Correne Martin
Korean War Army veteran Louie Wachter, 85, of Millville, respectfully reflected upon his fallen comrades first when telling about his Oct. 17 Freedom Honor Flight experience: “A person feels kind of humbled because there were so many more who didn’t get to go.”
Louie was one of 69 Korean veterans, 13 World War II veterans and five Vietnam veterans who took the honor flight to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials that stand in their honor. It was the 16th one-day trip from La Crosse since the organization started in April 2008. Two flights have gone every year since then.
Louie applied to the Freedom Honor Flight organization two years ago. In August this year, he received a call saying he was picked to go.
“Everybody said I should go. But, I said the only way I’d go was if my daughter (Susie Mergen) could go too,” he said.
“Most of them on the La Crosse flight were accompanied by family members,” Mergen noted.