Students make sure every ‘Honor Flight’ veteran gets letters
Joanie Zilaitis, 9, and her brother, Ricky, 6, are including a special message in the letters they are sending next month to their great-grandmother.
“We want to thank her for being brave and volunteering to defend our country,” Joanie said. Their great-grandmother, Olive Osterwise O’Mara, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. The name of her military division, the WAVES, was an acronym for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service.
Their classmates at St. Sebastian School in Ross are aiding in that “thank-you” effort for Mrs. O’Mara, 95, and other veterans. With the guidance of their teachers, the students in kindergarten through eighth grade are writing or drawing about 200 letters and cards.
Their missives will be presented during an in-flight “mail call” next month for 50 elderly veterans traveling from Utah to Washington, D.C., on an “Honor Flight.” Their trip will include visits to Arlington National Cemetery and the national World War II Memorial.
The program is part of an Honor Flight network operating in 42 states.
Mrs. O’Mara, of Salt Lake City, has 12 grandchildren and a baker’s dozen great-grandchildren who will be writing to her. Mary O’Mara Zilaitis, Joanie and Ricky’s mother, proposed having other students at St.
Sebastian write or draw pictures for the veterans. She said she wanted to make sure all the passengers on the Honor Flight received their share of letters.
That idea was a good fit for the Catholic school, principal Patricia Thomas said. St. Sebastian students traditionally invite ex-members of the armed forces to come to the school for breakfast and a performance on Veterans Day.
One day last week about 30 third-graders worked on their letters. The mostly 9-year-old pupils talked with their teachers about the sacrifices that people serving in the armed forces have to make. Some students shared stories about veterans in their families.
Gianna Sturdivant said her grandfather, Vincent, was an Army veteran. Her “Pappy’s” best friend died while in the service, she said.
“They had to go away from their families for a long time,” Mackenzy Miller said of veterans.
“People should respect them more,” Arii Metz said. “They risk their lives to protect us.”
The privately funded Honor Flights bringing veterans from Utah to Washington got under way with an initial trip in October 2013, coordinator Mike Turner said.
Most of the veterans served during World War II with a few in uniform during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. Their ranks have included four women on the initial flights. That number will double with Mrs. O’Mara and three other women on the trip.
Each veteran will receive a packet of 40 to 50 “Dear Veteran” letters. “It’s an emotional moment,” Mr. Turner said of the in-flight mail call. “Many of the veterans have been waiting a long time to get recognition for their efforts,” he said. “A lot of Utah veterans haven’t left the state since they returned from the war. For some, the last time they flew was in a B-17 bomber.”
Although the odds are against her — since about 16 million Americans were in the armed forces during World War II — Mrs. O’Mara is hoping to spot a familiar face and swap some stories on her Honor Flight.
“I’m looking forward to the trip and seeing somebody I knew in the service,” she said. “A good memory is the one skill I still have.”