Year's last Flight of Honor lands at RDU
More than 100 World War II veterans from around the Triangle got the chance to visit the national memorial built in their honor in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.
Posted — UpdatedFlag-bedecked members of Rolling Thunder and Patriot Guard gave a hero's welcome to the 102 veterans when they arrived at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on Wednesday morning.
The seventh Triangle Flight of Honor – and the last scheduled for this year – took the veterans to D.C. to tour the national WWII, Iwo Jima, Air Force and Marine Corps memorials. They also laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery and saw a special silent drill put on by Marines.
Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole spent time with the veterans during the tour.
Among the veterans who went on the trip is John Mims, of Hoke County, who was captured by the Japanese when they attacked the Philippines in December 1941. He survived a forced march and years in a prison camp.
"It was torture," he recalled.
When Mims overheard guards being given orders to kill the prisoners after the Japanese surrendered, he and his fellow POWs took over the prison.
Not all of Mims' experiences in the Philippines, though, were horrific – he met his future wife, Juanita, before the war. She would sneak to the barbed-wire fence of his prison to see him. The two wed after the war and remained married 59 years, until her death.
Mims said his time during the war made him a better person.
"God told me to forgive, and I lost a lot of friends. I've cried so much it's pathetic, but God understood me, I guess, because it was something," Mims said.
Triangle Flight of Honor raises money to offer the trips at no cost to the veterans.
Hundreds welcomed home the veterans just before 8:30 p.m. at RDU. The North Carolina State University marching band also performed.
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