We received a very sweet and sincere letter from one of our veterans, Leroy
Worsham, from the April flight. I wanted to share as this makes our efforts ALL
worth it! Thank you for everyone's continued support!!! -- Jen Walton, Honor Flight
Worsham, from the April flight. I wanted to share as this makes our efforts ALL
worth it! Thank you for everyone's continued support!!! -- Jen Walton, Honor Flight
I would like to thank each and every one of the honor flight team for giving us WWII veterans the trip to Washington. It was an unbelievable experience for us veterans.
When I got home somebody asked me to tell them about it and I told them I could describe it by using five words – Awesome – Interesting – And Highly Emotional.
It was awesome to me for the way it was all planned. Your group did a fantastic job of planning this all out and it went off like clockwork. There was no wasted time anywhere. Those of your team that went with us did an exceptionally good job of bossing us around. But that’s what it
takes when there is a big bunch of old men like we were.
It was interesting in that I was able to see some things that I have never seen before. There was so much to look at it made it hard for us to take it all in. You could spend weeks in Washington and not be able to see it all. Your group picked out the things that you thought us World War II veteran would be the most interested in and showed them to us. I am not able to say that one thing interested me more than anything else because it all interested me.
Now I come to the last one – Highly Emotional.
The older I get, the more emotional I have become. And this to me was an emotional trip. Three things got really close to me. The first was the WWII Memorial. I knew from the very start that it was going to be hard on me so I told my guardian that I would like to be by myself as I went through the memorial. He respected my wish and stayed a little piece away from me, but I noticed that he kept me in his sight all the time. I did real good until I stood in front of the wall with all the gold stars embedded in it. Those stars made me think of all the friends that I had who did not make it through the war. We had 101 from my home county that did not make it home and I knew almost every one of them. Standing there and thinking about them was not
easy but it’s part of life.
When I got home somebody asked me to tell them about it and I told them I could describe it by using five words – Awesome – Interesting – And Highly Emotional.
It was awesome to me for the way it was all planned. Your group did a fantastic job of planning this all out and it went off like clockwork. There was no wasted time anywhere. Those of your team that went with us did an exceptionally good job of bossing us around. But that’s what it
takes when there is a big bunch of old men like we were.
It was interesting in that I was able to see some things that I have never seen before. There was so much to look at it made it hard for us to take it all in. You could spend weeks in Washington and not be able to see it all. Your group picked out the things that you thought us World War II veteran would be the most interested in and showed them to us. I am not able to say that one thing interested me more than anything else because it all interested me.
Now I come to the last one – Highly Emotional.
The older I get, the more emotional I have become. And this to me was an emotional trip. Three things got really close to me. The first was the WWII Memorial. I knew from the very start that it was going to be hard on me so I told my guardian that I would like to be by myself as I went through the memorial. He respected my wish and stayed a little piece away from me, but I noticed that he kept me in his sight all the time. I did real good until I stood in front of the wall with all the gold stars embedded in it. Those stars made me think of all the friends that I had who did not make it through the war. We had 101 from my home county that did not make it home and I knew almost every one of them. Standing there and thinking about them was not
easy but it’s part of life.
The second time was at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I was up on the balcony where I could look over the changing of the guard. There was a large crowd there and I was standing behind a group of children until one of them noticed me and made them move and let me get to the
front where I had a better view.
front where I had a better view.
As I stood there I could count about 90 veterans in wheelchairs. This got to me and I knew as I watched the changing of the guards that I would never make it through the laying of the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I did not want those children to see an old man
break down, so I went around to the back of the building where I would be by
myself. It’s a good thing I did.
The third time was when we got back to Gulfport and saw the crowd there to meet us. As we came off the plane and saw all those people lined up on both sides of where we had to walk was a very emotional time for me.
Mail call was very special but I did not realize just how special it was until the next day when I sat down by myself and read all the letters that were sent to me. I was particularly impressed with all
the letters from the school children. I did not know any of them and they did not know me but they all thanked us for what we did the World War II. I have written to each of these children and thanked them for writing to us veterans. They deserved an answer.
Your organization is doing a tremendous job of honoring the veterans of World War II. I really do not think that we deserve it because we just happened to be the gentlemen when World War II came along. We saw our duty to protect our nation and 16 million of us responded to the call.
The bad part is that it cost us the lives of 400,000 Americans. There are the ones that I think are heroes.
Again let me thank all of you who made this time possible. I am 93 years old and do not have much time left but during the time I do have left I will remember this trip and what it meant to me.
I would appreciate it if you would someway communicate my thanks to all the people connected with the Mississippi Gulf Coast Honor Flight organization. You are a great group of people doing a remarkable job of something that is not easy to do.
Yours,
Leroy Worsham
break down, so I went around to the back of the building where I would be by
myself. It’s a good thing I did.
The third time was when we got back to Gulfport and saw the crowd there to meet us. As we came off the plane and saw all those people lined up on both sides of where we had to walk was a very emotional time for me.
Mail call was very special but I did not realize just how special it was until the next day when I sat down by myself and read all the letters that were sent to me. I was particularly impressed with all
the letters from the school children. I did not know any of them and they did not know me but they all thanked us for what we did the World War II. I have written to each of these children and thanked them for writing to us veterans. They deserved an answer.
Your organization is doing a tremendous job of honoring the veterans of World War II. I really do not think that we deserve it because we just happened to be the gentlemen when World War II came along. We saw our duty to protect our nation and 16 million of us responded to the call.
The bad part is that it cost us the lives of 400,000 Americans. There are the ones that I think are heroes.
Again let me thank all of you who made this time possible. I am 93 years old and do not have much time left but during the time I do have left I will remember this trip and what it meant to me.
I would appreciate it if you would someway communicate my thanks to all the people connected with the Mississippi Gulf Coast Honor Flight organization. You are a great group of people doing a remarkable job of something that is not easy to do.
Yours,
Leroy Worsham
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