Friday, May 17, 2013
Port native Joe Demler tells his story as a prisoner in World War II as part of the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight documentary.
The Stars and Stripes Honor Flight documentary continues to have a positive impact, with 5-star reviews on sites where the flim is being sold, such as Amazon.com. The film features four Milwaukee area World War II veterans and the local volunteers of the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight chapter, according to a press release from Stars and Stripes. Honor Flight hubs across the country are using the film to raise awareness about the program and raise funds to fly veterans from their communities. A clip on YouTube showcases the heart of the film, also featuring Port Washington native Joe Demler. "The hero featured in this clip is Joe Demler, who was captured by the Nazis and starved to 70lbs during World War II. He became known to the world as…
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
City gets pillar donated and is now fast tracking plans to get memorial up by Veteran's Day.
Port Washington leaders said Tuesday they're planning to build a World War II memorial in the new Coal Dock project on the city’s lakefront. Ald. Joe Dean said planners for the project want to erect a replica of the Wisconsin pillar from the national World War II memorial in Washington, D.C., which will be placed between a main and side walkway at the Coal Dock. "We found veterans just flock to this part of the memorial and have their pictures taken," Dean said. "(W)e toured the Coal Dock area and couldn’t think of a better place to put this." Dean said the offer to get the pillar came from a Madison company during the sold-out premier of the "Stars and Stripes Honor Flight" documentary that took place at Miller Park earlier this year. The…
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Sunday, August 12, 2012
Miller Park is the site for a day of honor and remembrance for veterans from the greatest generation and then some, breaking a world record in the process.
The showing of a documentary based on the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight brought tears to the eye, cheers from the crowd and broke a record for attendance. "Field of Honor," a documentary based on the journey of veterans to visit their war memorials in Washington, D.C., had its premier showing at Miller Park to a nearly sold-out crowd estimated at 33,000. Official totals confirmed by a representative of the Guiness Book of World records put the exact attendance at 28,442. The Honor Flight Network began in 2004 when Earl Morse, a retired air force captain and physician's assistant at a VA clinic in Ohio realized most of his patients who were World War II vets had neither the funds nor the physical ability to make the trip to see their own …
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Event at Miller Park brought together thousands of veterans and their families where they shared their stories of war, bravery and true love.
A sobering statistic flashed across the screen at Miller Park during the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight Field of Honor film debuted Saturday night. “One-thousand World War II veterans die every day.” As the veterans pass, so goes the chance to honor them, to hear their stories and to learn from the Greatest Generation. But honor flights throughout the state allow for those veterans to be honored and appreciated and to share their stories with the rest of the world. Martin Videkovich, of Caledonia, fittingly was sworn into the U.S. Navy on July 4, 1942, before he was shipped out to the Pacific. He recently had the chance to see the World War II Memorial when he went on the June Honor Flight. For Videkovich, the highlight of the trip “was …
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Hundreds of World War II Era veterans are treated to a trip to Washington, D.C., to visit their memorial. It's a journey that has been repeated several times before, but never gets old.
Most veterans are modest about their service, but often what details they won't tell you, their families will. Waiting for their heroes to come back from the latest Honor Flight at General Mitchell International Airport on a day that began 15 hours before, families wearing shirts with much younger faces in uniform are eager to share who they are waiting for. Richard Lyon of Glendale had a whole posse of family members, identifiable by gray shirts bearing his picture from the United States Navy. He served on the USS Requin, a naval submarine, in the Pacific theatre, although his enlistment would come just as surrender was declared. He had first attempted to enlist as a 16-year-old, lying about his age. However, his mother found out before …
Friday, July 8, 2011
Port Washington-based Stars and Stripes Honor Flight has taken 1,400 local veterans to visit the WWII memorial in D.C., and is now the subject of a major documentary.
"It was one of the biggest days of my life," World War II veteran Joe Demler said, reflecting on the trip he took to Washington, D.C. in 2008. Demler, a Port Washington resident, is one of the nearly 1,400 individuals from southeastern Wisconsin that has participated in the Honor Flight program that takes veterans to visit the WWII Memorial in Washington. His trip was made possible by the program’s Port Washington-based chapter, Stars and Stripes Honor Flight. A former member of the Army’s 35th Division, Demler participated in the Battle of the Bulge, a month-long German offensive that began in December 1944. Few members of his division survived the battle, he said, and Demler himself was taken as a prisoner of war by the Germans. After…
Maggie Dobson
12:40 pm on Saturday, May 18, 2013
One of the last chances to see Honor Flight on the big screen is on Memorial Day at Cedarburg's Rivoli Theater. Tickets are still available! All proceeds go to Stars and Stripes Honor Flight, and the veterans from the film will be there to chat! Visit ThinkCedarburgFirst.com for ticket info. more ›