Two weeks ago, along with 30 other World War II veterans, I was flown to Washington, D.C. as a guest of the Honor Flight Arizona.

We visited every memorial site at the capital, (an extraordinary experience). This was about the best thing that has ever happened to me in my 91 years.

During WWII I was aboard a destroyer, the USS Cooper DD695, and we received orders to search, find and destroy four enemy troop ships heading into the Philippines, which we did. During the battle we were torpedoed and the ship went down along with 191 of my shipmates. I spent 17 hours in the water clinging to a log I found.

Late in the afternoon I was spotted by a Navy flying boat (PBY) and picked up. When we, the survivors, finally got back to the states, we were sent to a rest area in northern California. The treatment was great, but it could not compare with the way we were treated by the Honor Flight AZ and the volunteers who wheeled us all over the site area.

Thank you good people of Arizona for what you are doing for us few remaining WWII vets. The Honor Flight AZ is sponsored by the people of Arizona, not government funded.