Mentone Man Takes Honor Flight, Wants Other Vets To Know About Opportunity
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Gerald Romine thinks more veterans should have an opportunity to take an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., and visit the war memorials. Thursday he discussed his April 30 trip so more people and veterans would be aware of the Honor Flight organization and the trips it provides veterans. “I think it’s the best-kept secret in Indiana,” Romine said. Born in Mentone, Romine joined the military right out of high school in May 1946. In November 1946, he said he landed in Italy. He served in the Signal Corp in Italy from 1946 to 1947, and in the Air Force Reserves from 1948 to 1951. The World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., was completed in May 2004. Honor Flight provides a way for many veterans to visit and reflect at their memorial, according to the Honor Flight of North East Indiana website. WWII veterans pay nothing for the trip. Honor Flights are funded by donations. While the focus originated with WWII veterans, Korea War veterans are now being offered the trip as the number of WWII veterans diminishes. The Honor Flight Network started in Ohio by Earl Morse, a retired Air Force captain, according to the HFNEI website. In December 2004, Morse asked one of his WWII veteran patients if he could personally fly him to D.C., free of charge, to visit his memorial. In January 2005, Morse outlined a volunteer program to fly veterans to their memorial to an aero club. Honor flight was born. Bob Myer is now the president of Honor Flight NE Indiana, a 501(c)3 organization. Honor Flight in Indiana was started in Fort Wayne in 2009, Romine said. Its first three flights took 25 people each. Romine’s April 30 flight was the 12th Honor Flight and now 770 veterans have flown out of Fort Wayne through the program, he said. Romine said during his trip to D.C. it rained about the whole time they were there. It didn’t stop the group from visiting the memorials. “I took a lot of pictures and they’re all seas of umbrellas,” he joked. Within a commemorative area at the western side of the WWII Memorial is a field of 4,048 sculpted gold stars, Romine stated. “The interesting thing about the wall of stars is that each star represents 100 casualties of WWII,” he said. The highlight of the entire trip for Romine was the reception the veterans got everywhere they went. When the plane was taxied out at the Fort Wayne airport, it went past two fire trucks, one on each side of the plane. As the plane passed the trucks, they shot a stream of water over the plane, Romine recalled. That was repeated at the Ronald Reagan International Airport in Arlington, Va. While sitting in the bus waiting to see the sites in D.C., Romine said he saw a man in a dark suit who kept walking by the bus. Pretty soon the man was on the bus shaking all the veterans’ hands. He turned out to be U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly. Romine said he sat and talked with Donnelly for a while and got his picture taken with him. When the veterans arrived back in Fort Wayne at 11 p.m., a large group of people were there at the airport to welcome them home. Two bands were playing for them. “For that many people to come out at 11 p.m., the way they were lined up was unreal,” Romine said. He also received 64 letters from school kids and politicians. “I read every one of them,” he said. He also praised the HFNEI board of directors for being such honorable people and making the flights possible. While in D.C., Romine said he didn’t shed a tear. However, when he got home and started thinking about everything, he cried because there were so many impressive things that he got to see. Romine’s friend Chuck Hassel said, “He was so impressed with all the people that came out and all the letters he got. I’ve never seen this guy shed a tear before.” For more information on the Honor Flight of North East Indiana, visit www.hfnei.org or call 260-633-0049.
