WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dozens of veterans are getting ready to take off on an honor flight and WFTV was there last weekend as those vets went through their packets and instructions.
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That flight leaves on Saturday and Channel 9′s Shannon Butler is also getting ready to ride along with these veterans.
She recently sat down with John Hatch who served in as an Army First Lieutenant in World War II and is 101 years young.
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You wouldn’t know by watching him – Hatch fly fishes, rides a jet ski and legend has it, beats everyone in corn hole.
On Saturday, he will cross off something else on his bucket list and l go on his first honor flight.
“I would like to see my co companions in Washington,” Hatch said.
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He and two others from that war will be joining more than 50 others on the flight, which some of them have been waiting years to go on.
Sailors like Oather Gardner who is 98 years young and served in Navy and met hatch here for the first time.
“We are still friends,” Gardner said.
Every day, memories of World War II are disappearing from living history.
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The men and women who fought and won this great conflict are now in their 90s and over 100 years old.
According to U.S Department of Veterans Affairs statistics, only 119,550 of the 16.4 million Americans who served in WWII are alive as of 2023.
That’s why flight likes these are so important.
WFTV’s Shannon Butler was asked to go along as a guardian this one-day trip.
“It’s an honor to go along with 116 veterans including Mr. Hatch to see the war memorials in the nation’s capital,” Butler said.
Channel 9′s Butler will have a full report next week.
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