What a great way to honor our veterans

Now this is the way to honor military veterans.

We speak of today’s Whiteside County Honor Flight, where 37 World War II veterans are being taken on a free whirlwind trip to Washington, D.C., for a visit to the World War II Memorial and other sites.

We can’t say enough good things about the people who organized this meaningful event and the people who gave money to help make it a reality.

The local Honor Flight group, affiliated with Honor Flight of the Quad Cities, is part of a continuing race against time to make it possible for aging World War II vets to see their memorial.

The program also has brought attention to the service rendered by participating veterans, as our newspaper featured stories about nine of them in advance of the trip.

Readers learned about Alfred Lopez of Rock Falls and his service on a Navy destroyer that searched for downed airmen in the Pacific.

We told about Elwin Haak of Sterling, an Army messenger who was captured by the Germans after D-Day and served 9 months as a prisoner of war.

Burdette and Harriet Burch of Sterling told of their service – he as an Army captain whose transport ship was torpedoed in the Pacific; she as code breaker for the Navy in Washington, D.C.

Paul Van Oosten of Sterling, a Marine, described how he fought against the Japanese on Iwo Jima.

Herman Beveroth of Sterling helped build runways on Wake Island as a Navy Seabee.

Charles Sands of Rock Falls was a storekeeper on a Navy ship that repaired landing craft.

Jack McMillin of Sterling made 17 jumps, two under fire, as an Army Airborne paratrooper in the Pacific.

Donald Card of Rock Falls served in the Army as a communications technician, laying telephone lines in the Pacific Theater, sometimes in combat conditions.

Their stories help to put a face on the veterans who are honored each year at this time.

So does today’s “Veterans Day Tribute” special section, in which photos of hundreds of local veterans are printed.

Sauk Valley residents will mark Veterans Day Wednesday with traditional ceremonies to honor military vets for their service to our country.