AWHS Youth Plan To Fund Veteran’s Honor Flight Trip
BY KAREN BERGER— MIRROR REPORTER
World War II veteran Harry Wagner smiled as he recalled his trek to Washington, D.C., aboard Honor Flight two years ago.
“What a wonderful experience. Especially the reception we got when we returned,” he beamed, adding that he now volunteers at each Honor Flight. “I love to see them come off the plane and walk through all those American flags.”
On Veterans Day, Wagner joined seven veterans from several wars to share wartime experiences with Anthony Wayne High School students.
Often, students don’t understand the importance of military service, said high school social studies chair Randy Musgrove.
“This is our way of honoring veterans. We want the students to gain an appreciation for those who served,” Musgrove said.
The Veterans Day event also kicked off a two-week campaign to gather $400 to send a World War II veteran from the area on an Honor Flight in 2012.
Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio is a nonprofit organization that flies veterans to D.C. to see the World War II memorial and other sites, then returns home late that night.
George Willets, also a World War II veteran, went on the trip earlier this year.
Willets doesn’t like to talk about his battle experiences, but instead told of how those who remained home pulled together to keep America running, manufacturing at a pace that outperformed the rest of the world.
“These ladies don’t realize how much they did,” Willets said.
“The home front was a tough place,” Wagner agreed, mentioning rationing of everything from sugar and butter to gasoline and appliances.
Wagner served in the Army and was a platoon leader in New Guinea. Willets was in the Philippines in World War II and in Korea with the 7th fleet during the Korean War.
When the veterans spoke to the high school youth, just about every class asked the question: How did you shower?
“Sometimes it was weeks between showers. We could only wash our fatigues in the ocean and dry them out overnight. There were no clean towels and the only water we had was what we had in our helmets to shave and wash our faces,” Wagner said.
Marine veteran Jon Meyer, a 2002 Anthony Wayne High School graduate, used a PowerPoint presentation with maps and photos to give a snapshot of the time he served in Iraq.
In 2006, Meyer was a corporal, squad leader and platoon leader. In December of that year, his unit was patrolling a town in the Jolan District when they came across an Al-Qaeda safe house.
“We could tell by the pile of South African artillery shells in the back yard,” Meyer said, noting that the homeowner was supposedly a taxi driver.
A thorough search of the home turned up a vehicle borne explosive device, pictures of people being beheaded and tortured, and a human hand in a jar. They took photos, then destroyed all of the weapons. Meyer testified at the trial of the two men. One was sentenced to seven to nine years in prison, the other to death by hanging.
That experience of being on patrol or being under fire can’t compare to video games like Modern Warfare, Meyer said. In reality, all senses are engaged – hearing and feeling blasts, having a rapid heartbeat and looking all around.
“You’re trying to slow it down. It’s like having tachycardia,” he said.
Meyer now works for a defense contractor in Lansing, Mich., and travels to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf area.
Other veterans who spent the day sharing insights with students include:
• Brad Baker, who was in the Marine Corps Reserve from 1998-2005, serving eight months in Kuwait and Iraq during the 2003 invasion. He is now a Whitehouse police officer who serves at the high school.
• Brad Contat, vice principal at Fallen Timbers Middle School, an Army veteran who served in Iraq from 2003-04.
• Steve Sickmiller, an Army and Navy veteran, who served from 1989-94 and 1997- 2001. He is now a controller for the Catholic Diocese of Toledo.
• Paul Smith, a Gulf War veteran who is commander of American Legion Whitehouse Post 384 and vice commander of the Lucas County Council. Smith was in the Marine Corps from 1976-99, serving seven tours overseas.
• Steve Trompeter, a master sergeant with the 127th Civil Engineering unit of the Michigan Air National Guard. He has been with the Guard for 27 years and recently returned from Afghanistan. He is also a building engineer with the school district.
A representative from Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio will share information about the organization during a November 30 assembly, when Musgrove hopes to present enough funds for at least one area veteran to take the trip in 2012.