EDMOND —
For someone who’s used to the alarm clock going off much later in the morning, at first arising at 3:45 a.m. the morning of Oct. 24 seemed like an inconvenience. But then I thought about the schedule of World War II veterans who served in combat zones.
After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, 16 million Americans served during the war; by the end of the war more than 288,000 women were in the U.S. armed forces, according to the National World War II Museum. Many soldiers had the experience of sleeping in foxholes and experiencing every type of weather imaginable — jungle heat in Burma, a Scandinavian winter, African desert dryness, hail storms, typhoons. Battles were fought around the clock.
About 5 a.m., I arrived at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City. Not long after that, the charter buses carrying 99 Oklahoma WWII veterans and their “guardians” (family members) arrived, escorted by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and flag-bearing Patriot Riders. For organization’s sake, the veterans all wore blue Oklahoma Honor Flights shirts, the guardians red shirts. Volunteers called bus captains made sure all veterans got on their assigned charter bus.
After exiting the buses, a Transportation Security Administration worker welcomed the veterans with a thank you and a handshake — they also received the same warmth from Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, of Edmond, Lt. Gen. Harry M. “Bud” Wyatt III (former Oklahoma adjutant general, present director of the Air National Guard at the Pentagon), volunteer members of the Oklahoma Honor Flights ground crew, groups in the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport terminal and volunteers at the National World War II Memorial. At the end of the day they were welcomed by about 100 supporters who included family members and military service members. They came at about 10 p.m. on a weeknight to honor these heroes.
During the Miami Air International charter flight to Washington, I sat by two terrific Oklahomans — Jim Slack, of Tulsa, a risk management professional, and Joanne Olson, of Enid, a registered nurse. Jim’s dad, Kenneth Slack, of Enid, served in the Army Air Corps; Joanne’ dad, Harvey Olson, also served in the Army Air Corps.
After arriving in Washington, the first stop was the National World War II Memorial. It’s located on prime real estate between the Lincoln Memorial on one side and the Washington Monument on the other. Sunlight sparkled off the water of a large, oval-shaped pool surrounded by granite pillars. A volunteer described the meaning of the elements to one of the Oklahoma veterans and thanked him for his service.
Then it was off to other stops, which included seeing the Changing of the Guard Ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington Cemetery and a memorial honoring the veterans who fought at Iwo Jima. A stunning statue there depicts five Marines raising the flag atop the 546-foot Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945, following a hard-fought bloody battle with Japanese forces (the related famous photograph was taken by a photographer with Leatherneck Magazine). The tiny volcanic island, located halfway between Japan and the Mariana Islands, was used by the Japanese as an early warning station and then by Americans as an emergency landing strip for damaged bombers. In 36 days of fighting, 6,140 Marines and Navy personnel were killed; about 22,000 Japanese soldiers and sailors perished.
Our day in Washington ended at the National Air Force Memorial, located on a promontory in Arlington, Va. There all 99 veterans assembled for a group photograph in front of three stainless steel spires that soar skyward, the tallest reaching a height of 270 feet. More than 54,000 airmen have died in combat while serving in the Air Force, according to information from the memorial. During the war, more than 400,000 Americans were killed; more than 73,000 Americans remain unaccounted for, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
Every 90 seconds, a memory of WWII — its sights, its terrors and triumphs — disappears; the men and women who defeated tyranny are in their 80s and 90s, dying at the rate of 740 a day, according to U.S. Veterans Administration figures. By 2016, there will be less than 100,000 veterans left.
This was the last Oklahoma Honor Flights trip for 2012. The next flight leaves April 17 from Tulsa. A total of three flights are scheduled in 2013 to honor another 300 Oklahoma men and women who helped change the world. More than 230 veteran applications were awaiting flights; more arrive each day. As of Oct. 6, Oklahoma Honor Flights had taken 1,005 WWII veterans on 10 flights.
For more information on how to have a veteran go on the trip or to support Oklahoma Honor Flights, call 259-9000 or visit oklahomahonorflights.org.
Businesses and individuals sponsor Oklahoma Honor Flights trips to Washington. They are too many to mention here, but they are to be commended for partnering in this effort as are the many volunteers. Honor Flight’s mission is to transport Oklahoma veterans to the nation’s capital to visit those memorials dedicated to honor their service and sacrifice.
MARK SCHLACHTENHAUFEN is a reporter for The Edmond Sun. He was asked by the Oklahoma Press Association to cover the most recent Honor Flight as a pool reporter for association member newspapers.
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Oklahoma Honor Flights embeds reporters
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Oklahomans unite in tragedy; set example for country
Whenever we witness the type of devastation wrought by this week’s killer tornado, we naturally struggle with a host of emotions. Those of us in the neighborhood battle to control our anxieties as we gather the information we can about the storm’s strength, location and direction. We experience dismay when we hear the threat above us has touched down and become a real physical menace to our friends, neighbors and loved ones. When the “all clear” sounds, we are thankful that the nightmare is over. When we realize our loved ones are all safe and sound, we rejoice.
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Spirit of Oklahoma strong in tornadoes
Because we’ve been through so much, we are a people who get perturbed when those on our nation’s coasts look down their noses at us. We are a people who get irritated when others tell us how we should live, or what we should believe. We are a people who cringe when others see our waving wheat fields as only flyover country.
We know that we are not perfect, but we are good, we are compassionate and we are giving. It is this spirit which led the teachers at Briarwood and Plaza Towers Elementary this week to use their bodies to shield students from tornado debris. It was this spirit that enabled law enforcement officers to stand in the way of the oncoming tornado to divert traffic from the storm’s path. It was this spirit that compelled Oklahomans around the globe to rush to the aid of their friends and neighbors. -
Let kids start school on a normal schedule
Q: Our son’s fifth birthday is in August. He did just fine, socially and academically, in preschool, but the counselor at the school he’s slated to attend has recommended that we hold him back a year because of his late birthday. She says that kids with late birthdays, especially boys, do better if they’re given an extra year of maturation before starting school. What do you think?
A: The practice of postponing Kindergarten for so-called “late birthday” children — generally defined as children having birthdays after May — got its start about 20 years ago and has generated the usual unintended consequences. Prime among those is the fact that by delaying the start of school for children having birthdays after May, schools only create a new crop of children with late birthdays — those occurring after January.
It’s true that during early elementary school, boys are less mature in several respects than girls. In general, their attention spans tend to be shorter. Therefore, they’re more impulsive and more easily distracted. It’s also true, however, that some children, boys as well as girls, experience developmental “spurts” during Kindergarten. The slightly immature, impulsive 5-year-old may be at the norm one year later. -
No one realizes how tough Okies really are — until this happens
Like many of you, I’m ending this tragic week emotionally drained. I was either glued to the weather report throughout the first part of the week or — when Su-the-dog and I weren’t settled down inside the storm shelter waiting for the all-clear to sound — I hovered with her about the shelter door leading down to it. Now as the week ends, I just might have changed my mind about a couple of things.
Many of us have been on our knees throughout this week praying that God will strengthen and comfort the state’s numerous tornado victims and their loved ones. Some have already contributed to organizations such as the Red Cross or the Salvation Army to aid this week’s victims of various tornadoes, and those who are able have either donated blood or else they will when the Bloodmobile makes its rounds. -
Seeing yourself as the world sees you
Ever try seeing yourself as others see you, or your piece of the world as others see your piece of the world?
You know, if you could get others to see you, or if you could get other parts of the world to see your part of it?
Narcissism and inferiority, both, can trap us in front of a mirror, admiring or lamenting, pleased or not pleased by the vision we presumably offer others.
Yet, what’s happened over the last three days, since yet another deadly tornado rolled through Moore, offers an entirely different perspective.
Through strength or weakness, we may take an interest in how we project. But when the “Today Show” is broadcast from the rubble and the network evening news has placed its anchor amidst the carnage; and when the news channels descend upon the destruction and every newspaper in the country is playing your and your neighbors’ plight bigger than its own hometown news, it turns surreal. -
ROCK DOC: Japanese find a new source of natural gas
The name “natural gas” might be a puzzle. After all, how could there be such a thing as unnatural gas? The reason we call natural gas what we do has to do with history. There was a day that people made burnable gas by heating coal. The gases that came off the coal were piped around cities where they did things like light street lamps and even power cook stoves in homes.
Coal gas had its down side. For one thing, it often contained carbon monoxide. And it took energy to make the gas, so it never could be truly cheap. -
Witnesses missing; Behenna case could be heard at Supreme Court
The film “Breaker Morant” was nominated for an Oscar for the best screenplay in 1980. It told the story of Harry “Breaker” Morant, an Australian who served in the British Army and was court-martialed for alleged war crimes during the Boer War in Southern Africa in the early years of the last century.
That conflict pitted the British Army against the descendants of the Dutch settlers who had migrated to what is now South Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries. The majority of them were farmers and in their language of Afrikaans were known as “Boers.” -
Don’t leave Oklahoma!
May is graduation season. As I have done every year as lieutenant governor, I have given multiple commencement speeches. Advice flows freely during this time and it usually runs the gamut. What to do, what not to do, how to do ‘x’, be sure not to do ‘y.’ Too often commencement speakers speak in big generalities. So general, the message is frequently lost or forgotten.
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Last-minute funding proposals not in state’s best interest
All indications point to this being the last week of this year’s legislative session. The Legislature will go home a week early. This is good news for Oklahomans as not only will there be cost savings but all Oklahomans should breathe a sigh of relief when the Legislature stops making new laws a week ahead of schedule.
As usual, the Legislature will take a number of important votes during the last week. Some will be forced due to attempts to introduce and pass far-reaching, new policies that should have been introduced much earlier in the year. -
BY THE NUMBERS: Oklahoma still needs to invest in its economy
After six months of stagnation, the Oklahoma economy finally appears to be expanding again albeit still weakly. Unfortunately, our leaders aren’t making the investments we need to give our economic prospects a boost.
Last week the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services reported that in April state General Revenue fund collections were 5.2 percent above the estimate and 14.7 percent higher than last year’s collections. Under normal circumstances, such a report would indicate that the Oklahoma economy was very strong. But this isn’t a normal circumstance, and April isn’t a normal month. - More Opinion Headlines
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Oklahomans unite in tragedy; set example for country
