Advertisement

Henry Zalewski, Tony Cilc and John Guster traveled to Washington D.C. with the help of the organization Pride and Flight. Pride and Honor Flight is a nonprofit group formed to provide expense-free trips for veterans to the national World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The group raises money to fund these trips and enlists volunteers to make the trip and help the veterans with the difficulties of travel and their medical needs.

"This is a group of people honoring veterans and helping them get to the memorial," said Guster's wife, Betty. "John had a wonderful time and it was a heart-warming event for him to attend."

"I heard about this trip in an American Legion newsletter," said Zalewski. "I filled out the form and sent it off...I didn't hear anything for quite awhile."

"But then one day a month ago I received a letter and found out we could go," he added.

Zalewski, a retired Army sergeant and Military Police (M.P.) from both WWII and the Korean War, said the trip was unbelievable.

"The WWII Memorial was beautiful...I've never seen anything like it before."

"The monuments are beautiful," agreed Cilc, a retired Army Infantry man from WWII and the Korean War. "I've seen pictures before, but to see them (the monuments) in person was quite overwhelming."

During the day visit, Zalewski had the opportunity to meet and have a picture taken with Senator Bob Dole.

"I was just walking around and there he was," he said. "It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I ran over and had my picture taken."

Cilc said this was his first trip to the nation's capital and what the people at Pride and Honor do is wonderful.

"They are really nice people," he said. "It's hard to believe they'd do this for us."

According to Zalewski, about 53 veterans and 39 volunteers went on this trip.

"The people were great," he said.

"Anything you wanted during the trip, the volunteers were ready to help (with)," added Cilc.

"The people couldn't do enough for us," Zalewski explained.

Another trip is planned for October of this year and it's already filled to capacity. For more information about Pride and Honor visit their website at www.rc.net/org.prideandhonorflight/index.html.