By Garrick Moritz, Gazette
Mark Williamson was pretty humble about his recent trip to Washington DC on an Honor Flight, taking Mike Peterson as his guardian. On Veteran’s Day, Monday Nov. 11, the Henry G. Fix Post #23 welcomed him as the guest speaker. Williamson has been the sergeant at arms for Post #23 for more than a decade and is deeply involved in the Military Order of Purple Heart. He spearheaded making Garretson a Purple Heart City.
Despite technical difficulties getting the video of the trip to play for the Veteran’s Day program audience, Williamson made it personal and heartfelt.
“It was fun for me in a number of ways, but also because we veterans on the flight weren’t allowed to carry anything for ourselves so I got to hand stuff over to Mike and make him carry it for me.”
“Brian Maschino, who is also a local Garretson area, fella spoke to us, and got us sent off,” said Williamson. “Of the group of us that went, we had one World War 2 vet, ten Korean War vets, and the rest of us were mostly Vietnam era guys like me with a few youngsters from Iraq and Afghanistan.”
“I’m lucky enough that I’ve been to DC before, Sam and I have gone with our good friends the Bennetts on their CTA tours, but this time was very special. What stood out to me most was as we traveled through the airport, across the concourse to our busses for our tours, was the thousands of people that stood up, cheered and applauded as we passed. These were just regular people going about their lives, traveling to wherever they were going, and they greeted us like royalty and with real joy. That’s something I’m always going to remember.”
Williamson said he also enjoyed seeing the Navy Memorial, since it was new to him.
“It all, it was a great experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything,” he said. “Lots of folks don’t apply to go on these honor flights because they think they don’t deserve it, or that someone more special than them should go first. You should let that go because it’s not about you. If you served, you do deserve it, it’s just that simple. I’m awfully proud of this post at the sixteen thousand dollars we raised to support Midwest Honor Flight and their mission and encourage you to support them in the future, and continue to support your fellow veterans.”
