Published: April 17, 2018
A much more welcome return this time around
One vet had a much different airport
experience 50 years ago
ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043
MILWAUKEE — It was worth it for West Bend’s
Jerry Goratowski.
A crowd of thousands packed the terminal inside
General Mitchell International Airport, despite the rain and snow mix that was
blanketing the city outside the airport, to thank more than 100 veterans
returning from their day of honor Saturday in Washington for the Stars and
Stripes Honor Flight.
The size of the crowd was moving, emotional and
left some in tears. Goratowski was no exception.
“It’s off the chart,” said Goratowski, a
Vietnam War veteran, shouting over a loud contingent of grateful people,
clapping and cheering for veterans walking through the welcoming line and
marching band music playing.
“My heart is beating,” he said. “When I got off
the plane, I was cool and calm, but when I hit (the welcome line), my heart was
racing.”
“That was something,” said West Bend’s John
Pedersen, a fellow Vietnam veteran and one of 10 Washington County veterans on
the Honor Flight.
“It’s really overwhelming,” Goratowski said.
About 50 years ago, Goratowski returned home
after a year in Vietnam. When he got home, something came up for his arranged
ride and there was no one available to pick him up.
So, he used $30 to take a yellow taxi cab from
General Mitchell Airport back home to Hartford — about 45 miles.
On Saturday, Goratowski came home to a welcome
home party like no other. He heard the stories from others who experienced it
before him. But it was unlike anything he dreamed of after experiencing it for
himself.
When veterans step off the plane, bagpipes
blare and two lines of local servicemen and servicewomen
line the concourse, saluting the vets as they
walk or are wheeled past. Then, once past the TSA security checkpoint,
thousands and thousands of people, most of whom are holding American flags or
signs saying “Welcome Home” or “Thank you for your service” give them the
ovation so many didn’t get 45 or more years earlier.
The lines of people behind two roped-off areas
are several people deep, all extending a hand for the veterans to shake.
“You’ve got to be there,” Goratowski said. “I
don’t care what anyone tells you, you’ve got to be there, you’ve got to be in
that moment.
“It’s a day I’m never going to forget, I’ll
tell you that.”
Goratowski served in the Navy from 1968-1974
and was in Vietnam for one year. He was born in Milwaukee and moved to Hartford
when he was 10 or 11 years old. He graduated from Hartford Union High School in
1968. Within four months, he was in Vietnam, serving on the USS Leary.
Goratowski was a boiler operator in one of the ship’s two boiler rooms.
“It was about eight to 10 people in each boiler
room and 12-hour days,” Goratowski said, adding if boiler pressure got too
high, the ship would explode.
“It’s hot down there,” Goratowski said, adding
temperatures exceeded 100 degrees, was surrounded by asbestos and was 5 miles
from the gun line. “It was so bad I got heat rashes.”
But after Saturday’s welcome home party,
Goratowski said, “I’d do it again.”
❑❑❑
Approaching a milestone
Saturday’s flight was the first of 2018 for the
Stars and Stripes program and 44th overall. It kicked off what Board President
and Allenton resident Paula Nelson said hopes to be a record-breaking year in
what is a milestone year for the nonprofit organization.
The organization’s first flight was in November
2008, marking 2018 as the 10th anniversary
season for Stars and Stripes Honor Flight.
The program is part of the National Honor
Flight Network, which started in December 2004 in Ohio. There are 132 national
hubs in 46 states. In Wisconsin, there are six hubs — Badger Honor Flight
(Madison), Freedom Honor Flight (La Crosse), Old Glory Honor Flight (Green
Bay), Honor Flight Northland (Superior) and Never Forgotten Honor Flight
(Wausau).
There were 70 veterans on Stars and Stripes’
first honor flight. On Saturday, there were 153. Since the maiden flight, Stars
and Stripes has flown more than 5,500 veterans to the nation’s capital.
Nationally, more than 200,000 veterans have taken an honor flight.
Nelson and her fellow board members also hope
to squeeze in the organization’s 50th flight this season. If not this year,
it’ll be in 2019.
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