Today is the day that Honor Flight 50 left Meadows Field on a whirlwind trip to the nation's capitol with 100 veterans on board including a Pearl Harbor survivor.
- Honor Flight 50 has nearly 180 veterans, guardians, and support staff on this historic trip to Washington D.C.
- Four of the vets served in WWII including Bob Fernandez who was aboard the USS Curtiss, a seaplane tender, that was hit in the attack on Pearl Harbor and survived.
- The tour crosses the country and returns with stops at the US Capitol, the memorials, and Arlington Cemetery in less than three days.
"Goodbye, love you"
"I couldn't make the trip from Santa Maria last May, and I was put on the next one in Kern County, that's how I got hooked up," said Bill Root, a petty officer in WWII assigned to the USS Okala, a salvage ship.
He's one of four veterans from World War II on the 50th flight to D.C., but he visited the Capitol years ago on business.
"I've been to the Pentagon, seen the ordinance... (yelling in the background)," said Root. Mike asked if that is what the military was like, a lot of yelling, Root responded, "Yeah, now hear this."
The majority of veterans are from the Vietnam era, with some who served in the Cold War and Korea, all looking forward to seeing the memorials and Arlington cemetery.
"See the graves, emblems, what they have there," said Doug Hartline, a US Marine in Korea, "what people did, where they were, I'm looking forward to that."
And while all who served are heroes, some stand out a bit.
Bob Fernandez was 17 years old when he reported for duty aboard the USS Curtiss, which was stationed at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.
His battle station was in the magazine room with ammunition for one of the big guns, but on that Sunday, he was filling in as a mess cook.
"When the bomb went off, everybody jumped and ran like hell... I followed them too," said Fernandez.
The Curtiss survived the attack, as Bob did, but 19 sailors died.
"When the battle was over, we raised a little hell, that's all I could say."
On this mission, there will be nothing but smiles and memories.
Honor Flight 50 will return Thursday night to Meadows Field... a heroes welcome to these heroes.
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