FAIRHOPE, Ala. — World War II veterans in the area will have more opportunities to visit the Washington, D.C. memorial erected to honor their service this year, and one local veteran encourages them to do so.

“Once I heard about the program, I called up about it and was on the last flight out of Hendersonville, Tenn.,” said Rock Creek resident Stanley Keel. His flight took place in September 2007. The group was flown to Washington, D.C. from Ashville, N.C., toured the monument and flown back, all in the same day,’ he said.

The program he refers to is called Honor Flight. Its mission is to fly America’s aging World War II veteran population to Washington, D.C. to tour the World War II Memorial, which was built to honor the 16 million Americans who served in uniform, including more than 400,000 who gave their lives, their families and those who supported the war effort.

The first Honor Flight carried 12 WWII veterans from Springfield, Ohio. In 2006, HonorAir in Hendersonville, N.C. and Hero Flight in Provo, Utah joined the Ohio group to  form the Honor Flight Network. Because Keel has a summer home in the Hendersonville area, he was able to hook up with that group, he said.

Keel has lived on the Eastern Shore since 1990. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1944-46 in the Atlantic Theater aboard the USS Taconic (AGC-17), an Adirondack class amphibious force command ship named after the Taconic Mountains in New York. Keel, who joined the Navy in Cleveland and attended Boot Camp at the U.S. Naval Training Center, Sampson, N.Y., said his last rank was ship’s cook 1st class.

Honor Flight trips are free for veterans on a first-come, first-served basis. Top priority is given to WWII veterans and all other veterans with terminal illnesses. The program’s second priority is to Korean War veterans followed by Vietnam veterans. 

“It is such a needed program. It was so awesome to stand in the area among all the gold stars that represent people we knew who didn’t come back,” Keel said.

Other veterans on the flight with Keel included one Merchant Marine, five women veterans, one Canadian pilot. The rest were a balanced mix of veterans of all branches of the service, Keel said.

Jeff Miller, with Honor Air and who worked with the North Carolina program, said that in 2006, 800 veterans were taken on Honor Flights and more than 5,000 in 2007. The last trip of 2007 was taken on Nov. 7.

“We will begin again in the spring,” he said, adding the winter weather is too severe to attempt to take the aging veterans to an outdoor memorial.

So far, the only Honor Flight regional programs in Alabama are the Prattville/Autauga County and Tennessee Valley-Huntsville groups. Prattville is planning a flight around May 17.

“I think we will have more than enough for one trip,” said committee co-chair Roscoe Williams. Before the end of 2007, they had enough signed up to fill a 142-seat plane, he added.

“It is hard to ID veterans on the Alabama Gulf Coast. No one can tell us how many there are in your area,” Williams said.

While the Alabama Gulf Coast doesn’t yet have an Honor Flight group, veterans interested in making the trip may contact the Prattville group by calling the Prattville Chamber of Commerce at (334) 365-7392.

Veterans living in the First Congressional District of Florida (Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Washington and Holmes counties), may contact the newly organized Emerald Coast Honor Flight at: www.emeraldcoasthonorflight.com, or by visiting Baptist Hospital’s Senior Services Program, 1301 W. Moreno St., Pencasola, Fla. 32501. The Florida application deadline is March 1.

Another option, may be to contact the Lone Eagle Honor Flight at (936) 582-6400. A Lone Eagle is a WWII veteran whose application has been in the national office for six months or more, yet they do not live close to one of the existing hub cities (within a 120-mile radius of the airport used by the closest hub), according to its Web site.

There is an urgency to Honor Flight. The memorial was completed 60 years after the end of the war, and for many, it came too late. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs and Arlington National Cemetery statistics about 1,200 WW II veterans die every day.

The one-day trips include guardians to assist the aging veterans as well as provisions for those who are wheelchair-bound, who require oxygen and those legally blind. All transportation needs are coordinated by the program and may include visits to other memorials such as Korea, Vietnam, Iwo Jima, Arlington National Cemetery, Lincoln and Washington.

For more informationon the program, visit www.honorflight.org.