Mary Baker is going to lengths to thank America’s World War II veterans while she still can.
She went on her third “Honor Flight” in October, helping escort 80 veterans from southern California to Washington, D.C.
Baker, a Bellevue optometrist and owner of Overlake Family Vision, has been on two other Honor Flights in the last several years. It’s her way of giving back to those who sacrificed so much, she said.
“It’s addicting,” she said of the flights. “I grew up in a Navy family and I’m a Navy veteran myself. It’s such a privilege.”
Baker served at the Naval Medical Center San Diego, and she said that she goes to San Diego because it still has many veterans of World War II who haven’t gotten a chance to go on an Honor Flight.
Honor Flights were founded in 2005, when several planes took Ohio veterans to the new World War II Monument in Washington, D.C. 11 years later, there are still veterans who haven’t had the opportunity to go, although most interested Washington veterans have.
“World War II veterans are dying at the rate of 600 a day,” Baker said. “Some veterans died while they were on the wait-list, so it’s important we get those still alive to go now.”
She said she has escorted veterans from 88- to 98-years-old, and even one as old as 103. Around 80 veterans are escorted by 80 chaperones to make sure it’s as comfortable as possible.
Many of the veterans on the flights haven’t waited this long to see the memorial (opened in 2004 amid controversy over the location, the design and a prayer written by Franklin Delano Roosevelt) because they didn’t want to see it, but rather because financially and physically it was too difficult.
Honor Flights, due to the space and medical requirements that need to be on board, aren’t cheap. Each flight — at a discount — still costs more than $220,000 to run. Twice annually, several of these flights from around the country convene in the nation’s capital.
According to Baker, that cost (which is often fielded solely by veterans organizations and private donors) is a small one to pay.
“It’s amazing to be able to hear real World War II stories from people who were there,” she said. “It’s something you see in history books and these guys lived it. I will always be thankful for what they did. They are the Greatest Generation.”
Baker, on the most recent Honor Flight, escorted a U.S. Navy Veteran named Al Assink, who served as a yeoman on the USS Gantner. The Gantner was a Buckley-class destroyer that served as a convoy escort for much of the war before bringing its sailors to Japan in the post-war reconstruction.
She said certain touches on the trip were a throwback to days of service.
“On the flight they would do a ‘mail call’ and pass out letters and cards from friends and families,” Baker said.
In Washington, D.C. the veterans saw their memorial, but also the Lincoln, Korean War, Vietnam War, Marine Corps Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, among other sights.
Baker asked that if you know a World War II or Korean War veteran who has not been on an Honor Flight, please go to www.honorflight.org to put them on the list.
“We want to reach as many people as possible,” she said. “It’s free for them and it’s so important.”
