Plant City residents and veterans James and Kathy Flemister have done a lot of things together in their 51 years of marriage but this year they were recognized for their military service with Honor Flights to Washington D.C. to see memorials erected in their honor. Separately.
Jim was on Honor Flight 44 in October and Kathy flew on Honor Flight 42 in June.
The all-expense paid trips flew participants from St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport (PIE) to Baltimore-Washington International Airpot (BWI), where they took a chartered bus to the nation’s capital to tour the Korean War Veterans Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Iwo Jima Memorial, Air Force Memorial, World War II Memorial and others. All meals were paid for by generous donors.
“It was a very nice day and the weather was perfect,” said Jim, who went on the last flight of the year. “The bus driver was like travel agents, giving us details about all the things we were seeing.”
His favorite stop was the Korean War Veterans Memorial, located near the Lincoln Memorial. Dedicated in 1995, it commemorates the sacrifices of the 5.8 million Americans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during the three years of the Korean War. Nineteen stainless steel statues of poncho-clad American servicemen, approximately eight feet tall, stand in patches of Juniper bushes and are separated by polished granite steps which give a semblance of order and symbolize the rice paddies of Korea.
He wasn’t expecting the reception he received when the flight returned to Tampa. The walkway in the terminal was packed with more than 700 people cheering and welcoming them home.
“It meant a lot to get off that plane and see the support,” he said. “Other veterans were saying it was a very different welcome from the one they received when they came home from war.”
Jim joined the Navy in 1963 and was assigned to be a photographer after completing courses at U.S. Naval School of Photography in Pensacola. In the days before everyone carried a cell-phone camera in their pockets, it was his job to capture imagery to document history in Guantanamo, Cuba, Jacksonville, Florida and other stations around the globe.
He left the Navy after his four-year enlistment term with a better understanding of what he wanted to do with his life. He used the GI Bill to earn a bachelor’s degree in Commercial Art from the University of Wyoming then went on to have a successful career in advertising. He retired in 2008.
Kathy was in the Army from 1965 through 1968. She served as a nurse in the Army Nurse Corps, training at Fort Sam in Texas before transferring to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. where she worked as the head nurse in an infectious disease unit. In 1966 she was transferred to Japan, where she worked at a U.S. Army Hospital, later known at the Far East Burn Unit. Helicopters would ferry seriously injured American soldiers from Vietnam for treatment.
“It was very difficult work, we had a lot of patients that were burned over more than half of their body and for some the only parts that weren’t burned were the bottoms of their feet,” recollects Kathy. “So many soldiers died because we weren’t equipped to treat those kinds of burns.”
After leaving the Army, she met and married Jim in 1971. She used the G.I. Bill to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Metropolitan State College in Denver in 1976. Her nursing career spans 48 years, 30 of which were at Tampa General. Enjoying the structure of military life, she served in the reserves from 1987 through 1996 and earned the rank of Major.
The Honor Flight she took was remarkable because it had approximately 20 women veterans that were included and recognized for their service.
“We all had a wonderful time,” she said.
Every veteran is attended to by a guardian, who serves as a traveling companion, providing safety, comfort and friendship.
“My guardian wouldn’t let me do anything,” said Kathy. “She carried my purse and when my knee started hurting at the end of the day she encouraged me to get in the wheelchair they provided.”
Her favorite monuments were the Iwo Jima Memorial, modeled after the iconic Pulitzer-prize winning photograph of Marines raising the American flag atop a hill overlooking the island and the Vietnam Women’s Memorial, depicting three uniformed women caring for a wounded soldier, serving as a reminder of the important caregiving roles that women played as nurses in the war.
“It was just beautiful and very moving for me,” she said.
She also appreciated the “mail call” they had on the flight home, when each veteran received letters, cards and pictures thanking them for their service and sacrifice.
The couple said their Honor Flight trips has left an indelible impression on them.
Applications for 2023 flights are currently being accepted. If you have worn a military uniform, have not participated on an Honor Flight and haven’t seen the memorials, you’re eligible to apply for a flight. While priority is given to World War II and terminally ill veterans from all conflicts, the program includes Vietnam and Korean War veterans.
Not a veteran but want to honor those who do fly on these trips? The organization is seeking cards, notes and drawings to give to attendees on next year’s flights. Mail the correspondence to Honor Flight of West Central Florida, P. O. Box 55661, St. Petersburg, FL 33732.
For more information or to complete the application for an Honor Flight visit www.honorflightwcf.org.