Honor Flight

Vet brings his three purple hearts and seven children on the trip

By Jon Byman

CREATED Nov. 9, 2011

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  • Flying to Washington

  • People filled Mitchell International to welcome their vets home.

  • The Honor Guard leads our vets back to their families at Mitchell International.

  • Waiting for our return flight.

  • At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier watching the changing of the guard.

  • Posing for the group shot at the WWII Memorial.

  • Wisconsin's column at the WWII memorial.

  • Flowers left at a memorial to the 101st Airborne at Arlington National Cemetery.

  • At the Women's Memorial.

  • Our welcome in Washington.

  • Relatives of one of our vets meet him at the airport in Washington.

  • Charlie Sykes shakes our vets hands as they arrive at Dulles International.

  • People in Washington DC welcome our vets at the airport.

  • Waiting to go see the sights.

  • Charlie Sykes poses with a vet.

  • Flying to Washington

  • Music for the vets as we wait for our flight.

  • Volunteers shake the hands of the vets prior to takeoff.

  • Vets and their Guardians lined up at Mitchell getting ready for their flight.

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MIILWAUKEE - "We're gonna have a good time, if we don't it's our fault."

That was Stanley Gwiazdowski's outlook as he was waiting for the Honor Flight early Saturday morning.

Stanley says he's 92.  Although he admits that he's been known to lie about his age.  He did it during the war so that he could join the reserves early.

"I was interested in the military since I was 17," he told me.

Gwiazdowski eventually ended up serving in Africa and Italy.

"I was in the infantry.  [we fought] when we had to fight and trying to stay from it when we could," Stanley recalls.

He saw plenty of action.  He has three purple hearts.

He was willing to share the story about what he calls, "the good one."

"In Monte Cassino, all I know is I was laying on the ground.  The radio operator behind me yelled 'Lieutenant you're bleeding.'  I didn't even know I got hit.  That was my third one.  That was the good one."

A couple days later, Gwiazdowski was on a train to Naples to a hospital for an operation.

Gwiazdowski came home from the war and started a family.  He eventually had seven children.  One of them served as his guardian on Saturday's flight.  The other all flew to Washington to be with him at the memorial.  They all then flew home so they could be there in time for the emotional homecoming at Mitchell.