Adventures nearly 60 years old earned Eagle Bluff resident and World War II bomber pilot Jack Rolfson a seat on an Honor Flight Network plane bound for Washington, D.C., May 4 to tour the National World War II Memorial.
“It was the experience of a lifetime,” Rolfson said. “It is a memory that I will never ever forget. Any man who takes that thing and doesn’t shed tears doesn’t have a heart.”
The Honor Flight Fayette hub in Fayetteville, Ga., one of more than 105 hubs across the country, organized the trip for Rolfson’s delegation of 70 area WWII veterans.
Jack Rolfson and neighbor Elaine Mason are the picture of relaxation in Rolfson’s “water garden” in the Eagle Bluff neighborhood. The garden, thick with azaleas, juniper, creeping Japanese maple and mountain stone, is frequented by his five surrounding neighbors. By the pond with close friends, Rolfson said, he likes to “reflect on the positive things in life and realize I’ve coped with the difficult things in life.”A police motorcade of cars and motorcycles decorated with American flags attended the group everywhere it went, Rolfson said. Fire trucks greeted the plane on the runway at the nation’s capital, escorting it to the gate with a show of crossing water streams.
“People were waiting for us to get off the airplane,” Rolfson said. “As we went through the jetway they were lined up clapping. It was so heartwarming it’s breaking me out in tears right now.”
Rolfson said his group spent two and a half hours exploring the WWII, Korea and Vietnam memorials before visiting the Marine Corps War Memorial, also called the Iwo Jima monument, and witnessing the changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetery.
Rolfson said as the veterans departed Arlington for their bus home, a crew of field-tripping fifth-graders and adults lined their path three-deep to cheer, shake hands and say thank you.
“I tell you, that’s when the tears came,” Rolfson said. “There’s so many people that still care after all these years.”
Rolfson said if not for Honor Flight many World War II veterans would never see the memorial built for them, which opened in 2004.
“I probably would never ever have seen it because of the age factor,” Rolfson said.
The Honor Flight Network had organized guardians to take pictures and push wheelchairs for every two veterans. Medical professionals accompanied the group, too, for veterans in failing health.
Everything was provided for the veterans that day, from 5:45 a.m. until 11:30 p.m., including a breakfast, lunch and dinner.
A friend and fellow retired airline pilot had pressed Rolfson to apply for the trip.
“They told me they had a monumental waiting list,” Rolfson said.
Though the program is for all veterans, priority is given to WWII veterans and veterans with terminal illnesses. Every expense of the trip is taken care of through donations to individual hubs.
An Honor Flight Fayette reception June 23 will recap the trip and participants will receive photograph folios documenting the day.
For more information about Honor Flight Network, to find a nearby hub or to donate, visit www.honorflight.org.