Pop and Lieutenant Dan

Remember the movie Forrest Gump?  Remember Lieutenant Dan, Forrest’s infantry platoon leader in Vietnam? He who Forrest carries out of the jungle, while under enemy fire? He who loses both his legs?

Turns out that Gary Sinise, the actor who portrayed Lieutenant Dan, is an exceptional patriot in real life. He started a foundation that does remarkable things for veterans, active members of the armed services, and children of military service men and women.

This past week, I was my dad’s “guardian” on a trip deemed “Soaring Valor.” Pop and I joined 25 other World War II veterans from Louisiana and East Texas, all in their 90’s except for one guy who’s 104, as the honored guests of Gary Sinise--Lieutenant Dan, American Airlines, and Brookshire Grocery Stores. We were flown to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, and pampered like royalty for 48 hours.

Pampered means a charter flight to New Orleans on a brand new airplane. We were its first passengers. It smelled like a new car. The plane’s crew were volunteering their time, and both pilots had been military pilots.

We were met at the New Orleans airport by the museum’s starlets—The Victory Belles, dozens and dozens of uniformed active-duty service men and women, ROTC cadets, Boy Scouts, and just plain folks who lavished their praise and thanks on the old guys-and one old gal.

We boarded two chartered buses and followed a six-pack of New Orleans motorcycle officers who stopped the traffic at every corner like we were the President’s party. That happened every time we got on the buses. I need the phone number to get that escort service whenever I drive into Austin.

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency downtown, where the weekday breakfast buffet runs $30 a person. Nice joint. I had to be tutored on how to make the elevators work, since they had no floor-buttons to push to get up to our room floor. It’s a military secret, I can’t tell you.

The National World War II Museum is a must-see. It’s growing and is already incredible. The entry fee of about $30 is waived for all WWII vets, and a hoopla is made for every one of them who visits the museum, not just our 25 honored vets.

The museum did roll out the red carpet for our group, starting with a banquet the evening we arrived. We sat under four sparkling WWII American aircraft and next to a Sherman tank. Check out the photo of the Victory Belles singing the national anthem to start the evening. The CEO of the museum and Gary Sinise welcomed us.

 

The next morning we watched the very moving hour-long film narrated by Tom Hanks, and Gary Sinise providing the voice of the soldier’s favorite journalist, Ernie Pyle.

We were treated to a luncheon in the museum where the Victory Belles performed a terrific after-meal program of 1940’s songs, and sang Happy Birthday to the veteran whose 104^th birthday it was. Know the famous (infamous) photo of Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to President Kennedy? That’s what this old vet looked like sitting in his wheelchair, surrounded by the much-more-modest Victory Belles crooning to him.

Mr. Sinise stayed right in the middle of the action during the whole trip, starting with serving the sack lunches on the plane, along with a vice-president of American Airlines, and the CEO of the Brookshire’s Grocery Store chain and his wife. 

When I had a chance to speak with Mr. Sinise, I thanked him, and offered that some famous people are willing to give their name to a good cause, some well-off people are willing to give their money, and others are willing to give their time, but not many people with recognizable names and deep pockets do all three.

My dad was in heaven. He turned out to be a good ice-breaker within the group, since he decided twenty years ago that no one is a stranger, and he loves to talk about his experiences as a ground crewman in the Army Air Corps in Europe during the war. Pop was a bombsight technician, and here’s a photo of him looking at a surviving Norton bombsight in the museum.

Here’s a last take-away from the trip: When does military rank cease to matter to military servicemen? It’s when they are in their 90’s and being honored as surviving veterans of World War II. For 48 hours I was right next to my dad while he chatted up the other two dozen veterans. Not one of them asked the other what rank he was during the war. They always asked the others what branch of the service they were in, and maybe where they served, and sometimes what they did, but never what rank the other was, nor did I hear any of them identify their own rank. It could have been colonels chatting with privates, or admirals with petty officers. I think that is a remarkable compliment to those old vets and to our country.

Heck, the whole trip was a compliment to our country, a much-needed little showcase of positive patriotism and appreciation from one generation to another--not the divisive partisan flag-waving our intense national election has forced on us.

The WWII sailor in this lovely photo is not a reenactor. He is one of the vets on the trip who wore his dress blues one day. He could still get all 14 buttons on his trousers done—and breathe.

 Hoorah for him, and the other two dozen veterans who loved the attention, and deserved it.