R.I. veterans to visit war memorials in D.C.
Among those departing today for a daylong trip to Washington, D.C., to visit several war memorials is Korean War veteran and retired general manager of The Day, Al Almeida, 85, of Westerly.
“I’m hoping to see somebody there that I served with,” Almeida said during a phone interview Thursday. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to be able to go, to be honored that way.”
The group of Rhode Island veterans will leave from T.F. Green Airport in Warwick and are traveling at no charge as part of the Honor Flight Network, a nonprofit that transports veterans to D.C. to visit and reflect on the memorials there. The Rhode Island Association of Fire Chiefs Foundation Honor Flight Hub, the local affiliate of the honor flight network, organized the trip for the veterans.
They’ll visit the Korean War, Vietnam War, World War II and Lincoln memorials, and observe the changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetery. The trip is being sponsored by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 42.
As a kid growing up in Cranston, R.I., Almeida used to go to the nearby airport, which is now T.F. Green, and watch planes take off and land. That inspired him to pick the Air Force when enlisting in the military at age 18 in June 1952.
Almeida was sent to Korea in December 1952, right after finishing aviation training in Amarillo, Texas. He was very fortunate, he said, because he was surrounded by “ace” pilots like Joseph McConnell, the top American flying ace during the Korean War, about whom a movie was made. The term “ace” refers to pilots who shot down several enemy aircraft.
Almeida said he was a pilot — but not a fighter pilot — and flew F-86 Sabre jets. He was an observer, meaning his responsibilities primarily were reconnaissance.
“I didn’t do anything notorious but it was a good experience,” he said.
He was a member of the 39th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron and assigned to a base in Suwon, Korea, just below Seoul, and was in Korea from December 1952 until late 1953.
“I felt I was making a contribution certainly to the nation by being there . ... We were doing our best to make sure that the north didn’t run the south over, which they almost did,” he said.