Posted on 11/09/2008 3:44:45 PM PST by hercuroc
Harvey Kurz said he’s proud and excited to be among the more than 100 veterans who will fly to Washington, D.C., on Nov. 19 as part of Ozaukee County’s first Stars and Stripes Honor Flight for Veterans.
Like many men of his generation, the 83-year-old Town of Grafton man is a veteran of World War II, the group for whom Honor Flights were originally intended.
The one-day trip to Washington, D.C., will allow Kurz and 82 other World War II vets to visit the World War II Memorial, the Tomb of the Unknowns and the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, which depicts the iconic image of servicemen raising of the flag at Iwo Jima.
“I am honored I’m able to go. It may be emotional. I’m sure it will be — it brings back many, many memories,” said Kurz, who covered his eyes as he recalled a few of those memories.
“It’s an honor to go see the Memorial. There are so many stories, a lot of history. I would like to look at some of the names from Wisconsin and see if I recognize them. And I’m looking forward to seeing the original Iwo Jima flag.”
That’s because Kurz, who served in the Navy from October 1943 until May 1946 and reached the rank of radio operator second class, took part in the battle for Iwo Jima and witnessed the first raising of the flag on Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945.
(Excerpt) Read more at ozaukeepress.com ...
Thank you for posting this. This is the second Veteran’s Day I will be unable to thank my dad for his service since he has passed away.
My wife’s first husband (died in 1994), was a Gunners Mate on the USS Pittsburgh at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. They also witnessed the flag raising at Suribachi.
They took a pounding at Okinawa from kamikazis.
The USS Pittsburgh lost 115 feet of its bow in a typhoon and managed to make it to port at Pearl Harbor without losing a man.
As Ernie Pyle said, brave men.
Your Dad and all the others who fought in WWII are the real heroes and why we are free today.
I hope the new socialist government doesn’t abolish Veteran’s Day in order to give the One his own holiday. We must never forget those who served and continue to serve.
Even considering the war time censorship that the journalists of that day willing put themselves under Ernie's book "Brave Men" was a masterpiece, had he survived the war what would he have had to say about the troops that he marched and lived with. The craven efites that today call themselves journalists are not fit to hand him his TP.
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