Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Steve Bell is surprised by a line of cheers as he makes his way toward a reception from a virtual U.P. Honor Flight presentation on Tuesday at Gogebic Medical Care Facility in Wakefield. The Vietnam Era soldier with the U.S. Army was one of several veterans honored at the event.
By TOM LAVENTURE
Wakefield - The Upper Peninsula Honor Flight brought the monuments and memorials of Washington to the veteran residents of Gogebic Medical Care Facility on Tuesday.
Heidi Brown, registered nurse and director of activities for the full time care center in Wakefield, said the U.P. Honor Flight use one of the documentary videos they make of each flight as a guided tour of the actual one-day veteran flights they make twice a year.
"For many reasons some of our veteran residents are not physically able to make the flight," Brown said. "So, rather than flying our residents to Washington, D.C., we are flying Washington D.C. to our residents."
The veterans entered the banquet room through an entrance that was decorated like an airport. They each said their names, which branch they served with and what years of service, before watching the plane take off on video, land, tour the monuments and return to the home, all while listening to the conversations of the veterans on the actual flight.
Following the presentation the veterans were surprised on their walk down the hall to see family, friends and staff applauding them on a welcome back to Wakefield.
"We had a reception to welcome them back," Brown said.
Lisa Svoke, activities assistant, said she has helped to organize Veterans Day and Memorial Day programs. This was the first virtual Honor Flight, she said.
She presented a $150 gift to the U.P. Honor Flight from a 50/50 drawing of the medical center staff.
"The veterans do hold a special place in my heart," Svoke said.
The veteran residents included Ellen Maki, now 98-years-old, who once served as a U.S. Navy nurse. "I took care of the patients," Maki said.
Dan McPherson served in the U.S. Navy from 1951-55. He was a "Seabee" with U.S. Naval Construction Force and helped to build the Naval Air Station at Subic Bay in the Philippines.
Rudolph Orlich was also in the U.S. Navy and served on the final voyages of the U.S.S. New York in 1946. The battleship was being decommissioned and survived a typhoon and two atomic bomb tests in the Bikini Atoll before the ship was used as target practice.
Steve Bell, served in the U.S. Army from 1967-70, and said he enjoyed the Honor Flight presentation. Until Tuesday, Bell said he wasn't aware of how many other veterans were living in the facility.
"I thought it was super," he said. "There's more sites to see there than anywhere else I can guess."
Bell should know. He served two tours in Germany as a heavy equipment operator with the engineers, but his stateside station was Fort Belvedere, Virginia.
"I've been to Washington and seen everything," Bell said. "I loved it there. It's a good duty station."
Bell said the Vietnam Veterans Memorial hadn't been built yet when he was in Washington.
Many other veterans present spoke of service with combat units, as navigation engineers for the U.S. Air Force and NASA, and Cold War veterans who served between the conflicts.
Robert Kleimola, of Ironwood, came to attend the event with his father, Robert Keimola Sr., who is a resident. He served in the U.S. Army from 1949-52 in Germany.
The U.P. Honor Flight members present were Scott Knauf, president; his sister Kim Wyckoff, vice president, and their mother Ada Knauf, a board member. The three are based in Gladstone, and took over the program after the previous president retired and the board disbanded.
Scott Knauf said it's the gratitude and the stories that keep him involved. Many times they don't even hear the stories until long after the flight in cards and letters saying how much it meant to the veterans.
"It's many, many, many hours that the board puts in throughout the year to put this thing on," he said. "But we show those letters to the board members and say that's why we do this."
The Honor Flight takes about 85 veterans per flight and two flights per year. They are trying to bring the virtual Honor Flight to more nursing homes.
"It's just the magnatude of it," Ada Knauf said. "It was such an honorable thing to do. How could you not."
There are no two flights alike, Wyckoff said.
For more information call 906-280-2871, visit uphonorflight.org or search Upper Peninsula Honor Flight on Facebook.
